Date Posted: Wednesday, October 11th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington Council Organization Commission was a public body which failed to comply with the open meetings requirements of FOIA. DECIDED: The Commission was a public body. As such, to the extent the Commission did not comply with FOIA’s open meetings requirements, it violated FOIA. This Office recommends as remediation that the Commission make minutes of all prior meetings available for inspection and copying. To the extent no meeting minutes exist, we recommend that the Commission create them.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 11th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the Department of Correction improperly denied his request for the records of the background investigation performed pursuant to his employment application. DECIDED: No FOIA violation found, as the requested records are investigatory files compiled for civil law-enforcement purposes, which are exempt from FOIA and thus not considered public records.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, October 10th, 2017
Petitioner requested that this Office determine whether certain Del Tech entities are public bodies subject to FOIA. DECIDED: The Collegewide Criminal Justice Advisory Board was determined to be a public body. This Office recommends minutes of its January 13, 2017 meeting be made available to the public and that the Board comply with the public records and open meetings requirements of FOIA going forward. The College Educational Foundation is not a public body; however, if a quorum of the Board of Trustees, as members of that Foundation, is present at a meeting and public business is discussed, such meetings should be considered a meeting of the Board of Trustees and must comply with FOIA. No other entity named in the complaint was found to be a public body.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, October 10th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that New Castle County Council improperly denied her request for certain emails involving county business or to certain employees sent from the Council President’s personal email account. DECIDED: This Office determined that the Council violated FOIA by providing by failing to provide a timely response to the request and by denying the request in its entirety. We recommended that the Council collect and review records consistent with this Office’s determination and provide all non-exempt records within 10 business days of the determination.
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Date Posted: Monday, October 9th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the Town of Dewey Beach violated FOIA by failing to post notice of certain meetings at least seven days in advance DECIDED: Any question regarding compliance with respect to cancelled meetings is moot. The September 13 agenda sufficiently noticed a permissible purpose for executive session. As we determined in Attorney General Opinion No. 17-49, the Town’s conduct with respect to timely notice of the September 13 meeting was, at most, a technical violation for which no remediation is warranted. Finally, the Town provided timely notice of its September 22 meeting.
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Date Posted: Thursday, October 5th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the Town of Dewey Beach violated FOIA by failing to post notice of certain meetings at least seven days in advance and that the noticed purposes for the executive sessions of those meetings were inadequate. DECIDED: Any question regarding compliance with respect to cancelled meetings is moot. The September 13 agenda sufficiently noticed a permissible purpose for executive session. The Town’s conduct with respect to timely notice of the September 13 meeting was, at most, a technical violation for which no remediation is warranted.
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Date Posted: Thursday, September 28th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the Personnel Subcommittee violated FOIA by: 1) failing to indicate the potential for any vote other than a vote to approve meeting minutes on its August 14, 2017 meeting agenda, and 2) voting affirmatively on “the recommendations and discussions that Council collectively had during the executive session.” DECIDED: Based on a review of documents submitted in camera, this Office determined the vote held was only to direct counsel to conduct legal research on a personnel matter discussed in executive session. Under the circumstances, this was not “major issue to be discussed” and therefore was not required to be included on the an agenda. Although the agenda would have been more accurate if it had listed the multiple bases for executive session, because those discussions were inextricably intertwined with a properly-noticed basis for executive session, it did not amount to a FOIA violation.
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Date Posted: Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Petitioner alleged that DelDOT improperly denied his request for the name, address, and “relevant information” about the individual who filed a complaint about Petitioner’s mailbox. DelDOT cited the exemption for investigatory documents in denying the request. HELD: There was no FOIA violation. Complaints are part of investigatory files, which remain confidential even after an investigation has concluded.
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Date Posted: Thursday, September 7th, 2017
Petitioner alleged that the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission failed to share documents he submitted to that Commission with the Sussex County Council. HELD: Such conduct, if the facts are as alleged, would not violate FOIA.
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Date Posted: Thursday, August 31st, 2017
Petitioner alleged that Department of Health and Social Services (“DHSS”) violated FOIA, specifically, by denying his July 26, 2017 request in its entirety rather than provide redacted versions of records responsive to his request. HELD: As we are satisfied that DHSS did not violate FOIA by denying your request in its entirety pursuant to 29 Del. C. Section 10002(1)(6).
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