Petitioner alleged New Castle County violated FOIA in the following ways: (1) the County’s response did not cite specific statutory exemptions for the denial of documents; (2) the response did not provide a log or index of withheld records, (3) the response was formulaic and non-individualized; (4) the response referenced only publicly available websites and avoidi questions related to decision-making and enforcement actions; (5) no clarification was provided regarding the grandfathered use status of the parcel; and (6) the County’s initial denial of your request based on your citizenship violated FOIA. The petition also made non-FOIA claims related to misconduct and other issues.
DECIDED: As the County’s response did not violate FOIA as alleged above and FOIA does not require a public body to provide an index of withheld records or to answer questions, no violation of FOIA was found. The remaining claims were not appropriate for consideration.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Christina School District violated FOIA’s public records provisions by: (1) requiring in-person verification of the petitioner’s identity with two forms of identification in order to receive the responsive personnel records; (2) refusing to transmit responsive records by email or mail; and (3) missing the extended response deadline for the request.
DECIDED: The District did not sufficiently support that two items in the request were exempt and not required to be made available through its FOIA request process. A supplemental response specific to those two items was recommended. The remaining claims were determined to be inappropriate for consideration.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the City of Dover violated FOIA, because the City required payment of $8.68 for a first request, but after payment was made, the City advised that the petitioner would not receive some of the information requested. The petition also alleged that the City’s $511.57 charge to retrieve the records responsive to a second request is excessive.
DECIDED: The City violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate it appropriately responded to the first request and by failing to demonstrate its cost estimate for the second request was compliant with FOIA.
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Petitioner alleged that the City of Rehoboth Beach violated FOIA by failing to provide minutes from a June 2023 meeting in response to a FOIA request and to post the minutes online and by failing to respond to a request for an updated zoning map.
DECIDED: The City violated FOIA by failing to maintain the minutes for the June 2023 meeting and make them available to the petitioner. No further violations were found with respect to the remaining claims.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Transportation (“DelDOT”) violated FOIA by denying access to certain toll records.
DECIDED: As the records are statutorily exempt from disclosure, DelDOT did not violate FOIA in denying access to these records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged the Policy Review Committee of the Christina School District Board of Education violated FOIA by failing to include a proposed policy about qualifications for the Board presidency on its agenda, which was discussed at the July 1, 2025 Committee meeting.
DECIDED: The Committee violated FOIA by discussing this proposed policy at this meeting without adequate public notice on its agenda.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware State Police, Department of Safety and Homeland Security (“DSP”) violated FOIA by denying a request for police reports, service call summaries, and related records for a certain residential property and community.
DECIDED: As the records were exempt under the investigatory files exemption, the DSP did not violate FOIA by denying access to these records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Indian River School District improperly redacted parent names from the settlement agreements it produced in response to the petitioner’s FOIA request.
DECIDED: The District did not violate FOIA by making these redactions.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Office of the Governor improperly withheld and redacted records in its production of responsive records.
DECIDED: As the Governor’s Office satisfied its burden of justifying its denial of access to the requested records pursuant to the attorney-client privilege, executive privilege, and the exemption for legislative emails in Section 10002(o)(16), no such violation was found.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays violated FOIA by failing to maintain an online portal and designated FOIA Coordinator, deficient meeting agendas, untimely posting of meeting agendas and meeting minutes, failing to allow public comment during open meetings, and delayed or deficient responses to records requests.
DECIDED: DCIB violated FOIA by failing to timely respond to one of Petitioner’s records requests, failing to maintain an online portal and designated FOIA Coordinator, untimely and deficient meeting agendas, and failing to allow public comment during open meetings. DCIB did not violate FOIA when it sought multiple extensions of time to respond to one of Petitioner’s records requests or when it delayed posting certain meeting minutes until approved.
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