Petitioner alleged that the City of Wilmington violated FOIA by denying access to certain records related to the City’s parking enforcement.
DECIDED: The City did not violate FOIA, because the City demonstrated that the pending ligation exemption applied to the requested records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corporation (“FDRPC”) violated FOIA by responding to his request by granting him the opportunity to inspect the records at the FDRPC’s office.
DECIDED: The FDRPC did not violate FOIA by offering an appointment to inspect the requested records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Elections improperly denied access to certain records related to voting.
DECIDED: The Department did not violate FOIA by denying access to the requested records.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delmar School District Board of Education violated FOIA by failing to properly notice the executive session of its March 21, 2023 meeting, by considering the agenda items out of order at the meeting, and by failing to identify the individual personnel items subject to vote.
DECIDED: The Board violated FOIA by failing to provide proper notice of its executive session in its March 21, 2023 meeting agenda and by the manner in which the Board reordered its agenda without notice to the attendees. The personnel items were addressed in Attorney General Opinion No. 23-IB12.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Finance improperly denied access to certain records related to unclaimed property auditors.
DECIDED: The Department did not violate FOIA by denying access to these requested records under the pending litigation exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(9).
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Delmar School District Board of Education did not provide proper notice of its intention to make certain changes to the superintendent position in the December 8 and 13, 2022 meeting agendas for the open and executive sessions and that the Board must have met privately to decide on certain actions related to the superintendent position prior to the December 13, 2022 Board meeting.
DECIDED: The Board violated FOIA by giving insufficient notice on its December 8 and 13, 2022 meeting agendas of the executive sessions and the superintendent matters intended to be addressed in open session at these meetings. However, the Board met its burden to demonstrate that it did not violate FOIA by meeting privately prior to the December 13, 2022 meeting about the identified issues.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that a certain public hearing notice was not separately posted on the website of the City of Delaware City and that the hearing was merely mentioned in the agenda for the public meeting.
DECIDED: We conclude that the City did not violate FOIA by failing to post this public hearing notice on the City’s website.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that 1) the January 30, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting notice failed to include an agenda as required; and 2) a quorum of councilmembers met in person and communicated over email to discuss and make decisions about public business outside of a public meeting.
DECIDED: The Town violated FOIA by failing to establish that an agenda for the January 30, 2023 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was properly posted. In addition, the Town Council violated FOIA by meeting via a constructive quorum without satisfying FOIA’s requirements for open meetings.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the Wilmington City Council voted privately in two executive sessions to select candidates for two Council seats in violation of FOIA.
DECIDED: The Council’s Committee of the Whole violated FOIA by voting via secret ballot in executive session at the November 28, 2022 and February 1, 2023 Committee meetings to recommend the selected candidates for two Council vacancies.
Read MorePetitioner alleged that the State of Delaware Board of Elections violated FOIA by allowing board members to have visual and audio access to its January 9, 2023 virtual meeting but limiting the public to audio access.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA by allowing the public to access this meeting through audio means only.
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