Questions & Answers

On August 11 I sent a FOIL request to the police department that serves my village and a neighboring one under a shared-services arrangement. I asked for records on its automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras: any whitelist of plates or vehicles exempted from tracking, audit and usage logs since January 1, vendor contracts and grant paperwork, and communications about installing and running the cameras.

I followed up on August 18 after hearing nothing. On August 19 the police chief wrote back that they had received it, that I was one of many asking for this information, and that they were waiting on a report to clear with the FOIL officer and would have something out “hopefully soon.” No date was given.

On September 27 I filed a FOIL appeal with my village under Public Officers Law § 89(4)(a), on the grounds that an acknowledgment with no date is a constructive denial. The next day the deputy village clerk sent me an acknowledgment letter under § 89(3), saying this was the first FOIL request the village had received on the matter and setting a response date a month out.

I am not filing a new request. Treating my appeal as one resets a clock that started weeks ago. Is this local clerks using village boundaries to get around FOIL timelines, and what should I do?

I filed a FOIL request with the New York State Department of Health on January 6 for the full contract between Public Partnerships LLC and the Department related to the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. The request was acknowledged the same day.

On January 15, having heard nothing further, I wrote to say that more than five business days had passed without the record, or a written acknowledgement together with a reasonable approximate date when I would receive it, as required under Section 89(3)(a) of FOIL. That day I was told a determination would be reached in approximately 20 business days, on February 4.

On February 6 I received a message saying the Department is still processing the request, that the office receives between 500 and 700 FOIL requests per month, and that a response will be forthcoming as soon as the process is complete. It does not give me a new date, which violates the law. What are my appeal options? Can you help me write an appeal letter?

We requested body camera footage from a police department through a FOIL request. When we finally received the footage, it appears that the majority of it has been redacted. Is there a way to obtain the unredacted footage?

The state DMV sent me a $2,000 invoice when I requested public records from them. This is the only agency that I’ve ever had do this. I had asked for the investigation and violation history of the various auto repair shops that have operated at a garage in Brooklyn.

About two years ago the DMV did this same thing when I requested records of the personal information they sell. At that time I wrote back asking them to waive the fee, and they said our organization doesn’t qualify for a fee waiver. When we said okay, we would pay the $700 fee, they then denied the request saying it was too broad.

The county recently conducted an internal review of the public defender’s office and determined two of the top attorneys should be required to resign. One did. The other got a different job in the county.

I FOILed for a copy of the “work product” — whatever it was the law firm hired to perform the review determined — and the county attorney denied the request in full. Am I not entitled to a redacted copy at least? Or is he right that all of it is exempt? I intend to appeal just the same.

I was just made aware of a public official obtaining checks from a local government that were paid to a vendor. Here’s the odd part for me: all of the amounts and reasons for payment on the checks are redacted. Is that legal? It’s not one check. It’s probably at least more than a dozen, maybe more. I haven’t seen all of them.

I’m a newspaper editor. Would you be able to offer any guidance on where I can find any case law on whether legal notices of claim against municipalities are subject to FOIL in New York State?

I have been having issues with a local New York village for several years regarding FOIL. I have filed and been successful in Article 78 proceedings previously.

Currently I have been repeatedly denied access to records I requested by letter and email because I have refused to fill out a certain village-prescribed FOIL request form. I have read Committee on Open Government opinions on the point that an agency or municipality cannot require a FOIL requester to use a prescribed form, as long as a letter or other means of request meets the requirements and provides the information needed to search for the records. The village continues to refuse me the opportunity to review the information until I fill out their form.

I am planning to file an Article 78 on the matter, but I want to ask whether I am correct that I don’t have to fill out the village-prescribed form, and whether you are aware of any case law supporting my position.

A school district denied my FOIL request for two investigation reports, both withheld on the basis of attorney-client privilege. The district did release one of the reports to another person involved in the matter. I intended to appeal the denial but did not do so promptly. Do I have any further recourse to obtain the reports? I understand information would be redacted.