Granted: Township financial records with exempt information redacted
Granted: A request for financial
records from the Rush Township board of
supervisors, including bills and all June 2008
receipts, including copies of checks deposited
and deposit slips for the board. The township had
denied them on the basis they might contain
privileged or other exempt information.
From
the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information
Coalition
Granted: A request for financial records from the Rush Township board of supervisors, including bills and all June 2008 receipts, including copies of checks deposited and deposit slips for the board.
The township provided a copy of a list of bills from the General Fund that was presented to the board for approval at the June 2008 meeting, but no other records were provided.
The Office of Open Records noted that the reply did not contain the name of the township's open records officer, any appeal information, or legal support for the denial of access to the other records requested.
In response to the OOR, the township said that copies of bills for the zoning hearing board's solicitor may contain confidential information covered by attorney-client privilege, and that the board solicitor's own billing records may contain non-public information as well. The township also said that other requested were not public records because they contained Social Security numbers and other personal information exempted under the Right to Know Law.
The OOR found that the board did not provide any factual basis or legal analysis supporting its speculative claim that copies of the solicitor's records may contain privileged information. It also found that the board could not claim that because a requested record contained non-public information, the entire record was exempt from disclosure.
"Under the plain language of the RTKL, an 'agency may not deny access to the record if the information which is not subject to access is able to be redacted," the OOR noted.
Lazur vs. Rush Township Board of Supervisors -- AP 2009-0163
Granted: A request for financial records from the Rush Township board of supervisors, including bills and all June 2008 receipts, including copies of checks deposited and deposit slips for the board.
The township provided a copy of a list of bills from the General Fund that was presented to the board for approval at the June 2008 meeting, but no other records were provided.
The Office of Open Records noted that the reply did not contain the name of the township's open records officer, any appeal information, or legal support for the denial of access to the other records requested.
In response to the OOR, the township said that copies of bills for the zoning hearing board's solicitor may contain confidential information covered by attorney-client privilege, and that the board solicitor's own billing records may contain non-public information as well. The township also said that other requested were not public records because they contained Social Security numbers and other personal information exempted under the Right to Know Law.
The OOR found that the board did not provide any factual basis or legal analysis supporting its speculative claim that copies of the solicitor's records may contain privileged information. It also found that the board could not claim that because a requested record contained non-public information, the entire record was exempt from disclosure.
"Under the plain language of the RTKL, an 'agency may not deny access to the record if the information which is not subject to access is able to be redacted," the OOR noted.
Lazur vs. Rush Township Board of Supervisors -- AP 2009-0163