Date Posted: Thursday, January 19th, 2023
Petitioner alleged that Sussex County violated FOIA by failing to provide responsive records to two requests related to a certain wastewater facility.
DECIDED: The County has met its burden of proof to demonstrate that it has not violated FOIA by failing to provide responsive records to the two requests.
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Date Posted: Monday, January 9th, 2023
Petitioner alleged that the Board of Directors of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (“DIAA”) violated FOIA at its November 10, 2022 meeting because the motion to take administrative action on a personnel matter discussed in the preceding executive session did not adequately describe the topic subject to vote.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA by failing to describe more specifically the personnel matter subject to vote.
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Date Posted: Monday, December 19th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that DNREC had not responded to his request as of the date of the Petition and that the raw sampling data and related internal correspondence had not been provided, despite this Office’s previous opinion regarding these records.
DECIDED: The Petition’s claim that DNREC failed to respond to the request was determined to be moot. DNREC violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate its withholding of access to the requested raw data and the related internal correspondence was proper under FOIA.
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Date Posted: Friday, December 16th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (“DNREC”), the Delaware Parks and Recreation Council (“Parks Council”), and the Parks Council’s Stakeholder Workgroup (“Workgroup”) violated FOIA by failing to adhere to FOIA’s open meeting requirements because the Parks Council’s agendas for its February, May, August, and November 2022 meetings did not give adequate notice of its intent to review or change the surf fishing permit program. Petitioner also alleged that the Workgroup was required to provide public notice of its meetings.
DECIDED: Parks Council did not violate FOIA with its agenda topics. However, the Workgroup is a public body under FOIA, and thus, did violate FOIA’s open meeting requirements.
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Date Posted: Friday, December 16th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that three members of New Castle City Council privately discussed and reached a consensus on the tourism director position and that these members regularly used private and public email systems to communicate outside of public meetings and referenced an email in which one councilmember intended to have private discussions with another member.
DECIDED: As the Council provided appropriate sworn testimony, the Petition’s claims allegations did not constitute violations of FOIA.
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Date Posted: Monday, December 12th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corporation (“FDRPC”) violated FOIA by not responding to two FOIA requests seeking records relating to financial audits of the FDRPC.
DECIDED: FDRPC violated FOIA by failing to timely respond to two FOIA requests.
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Date Posted: Wednesday, November 30th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (“DNREC”) violated FOIA by relying on the personnel file exemption to withhold an employment settlement agreement and that DNREC’s FOIA coordinator failed to work to foster cooperation between him and DNREC, as required by Section 10003(g).
DECIDED: The claim regarding the settlement agreement is moot, and DNREC’s FOIA coordinator did not violate FOIA by failing to satisfy the duty to cooperate under Section 10003(g).
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Date Posted: Tuesday, November 29th, 2022
Petitioner challenged the University of Delaware’s representation that it has no public records responsive to his request.
DECIDED: The University did not violate FOIA, as it met its burden of proof to demonstrate that it has no public records responsive to this request.
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Date Posted: Monday, November 28th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that the Delaware Department of Transportation (“DelDOT”) imposed unreasonable and unnecessary administrative charges for access to public documents.
DECIDED: DelDOT did not violate FOIA as alleged, because DelDOT met its burden of proof to support its estimated costs to compile the records requested.
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Date Posted: Monday, November 28th, 2022
Petitioner alleged that the Board of Education of the Red Clay Consolidated School District violated FOIA by allowing a member of the Board, who was elected but unsworn at the time, to observe two executive sessions.
DECIDED: The Board did not violate FOIA by permitting this Board member to observe two executive sessions.
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