Granted: Request that township ignored for more than 30 days
Granted: A request to McNett
Township seeking minutes, budget proposal,
invoices, letters, local laws and bylaws of a
fire company. The Office of Open Records noted in
its response to the appeal that there was no
evidence that the township ever responded to the
request.
From
the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition
Granted: A request to McNett Township seeking minutes, budget proposal, invoices, letters, local laws and bylaws of a fire company.
The Office of Open Records noted in its response to the appeal that there was no evidence that the township ever responded to the request, which was sent by certified mail, therefore it was deemed denied.
The requester, in his appeal, noted that he had requested many of the same records under the old Right to Know Law, and did not receive responses.
The OOR noted that the township did not dispute that any of the records requested are public, but claimed difficulty in responding to the request due to staffing limitations and turnover. "As there is no dispute that the records requested are public, to the extent that records exist and within the Township’s control, the Township has a mandatory duty under the RTKL to provide them," the OOR wrote.
The OOR said that the township failed to meet the requirements of the law in many respects, nothing that more than 70 days elapsed since the request, which remained unfulfilled, and that the township did not respond at all to the requester until after a month had elapsed.
"The township had an obligation to invoke the thirty-day extension for bona fide staffing limitations within the five business days as is its right ...," the OOR wrote. "However, the Township did not do so."
Jelmsa vs. McNett Township -- AP 2009-0273
Granted: A request to McNett Township seeking minutes, budget proposal, invoices, letters, local laws and bylaws of a fire company.
The Office of Open Records noted in its response to the appeal that there was no evidence that the township ever responded to the request, which was sent by certified mail, therefore it was deemed denied.
The requester, in his appeal, noted that he had requested many of the same records under the old Right to Know Law, and did not receive responses.
The OOR noted that the township did not dispute that any of the records requested are public, but claimed difficulty in responding to the request due to staffing limitations and turnover. "As there is no dispute that the records requested are public, to the extent that records exist and within the Township’s control, the Township has a mandatory duty under the RTKL to provide them," the OOR wrote.
The OOR said that the township failed to meet the requirements of the law in many respects, nothing that more than 70 days elapsed since the request, which remained unfulfilled, and that the township did not respond at all to the requester until after a month had elapsed.
"The township had an obligation to invoke the thirty-day extension for bona fide staffing limitations within the five business days as is its right ...," the OOR wrote. "However, the Township did not do so."
Jelmsa vs. McNett Township -- AP 2009-0273