Putting a lens on Freedom of Information requests
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
The city’s handling of freedom of information requests was put under a lens at a recent corporate services committee meeting.
At the previous meeting, Ward 5 regional councillor Brian Nicholson had asked for an update on the city’s outstanding FOI requests.
According to a report from the city clerks department, there were 270 FOI requests made to the City of Oshawa in 2018.
Of those, all the information requested was disclosed for 36 requests, while in 133 requests information was partially disclosed.
There were n o responsive records for 52 requests, no information was disclosed for eight requests, and 12 were withdrawn or abandoned.
There are 29 requests still open as they require third party notification or more time to be completed.
Two-hundred thirty nine of the requests were made by residents, 20 by an individual agent, six by a business, four by an association or group, and one by the media.
The overwhelming majority, 70 per cent, of FOI requests were related to building permits and plans, municipal law enforcement and fire services.
The report as noted between 30 appeals made to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC).
As of Jan. 29, 11 of those appeals were still outsanding, one of which goes back to 2014 and three made in 2015.
Nicholson sad it was concerning to see these appeals made in 2015.
“Citizens shouldn’t have to wait years for a response,” he said.
He questioned city clerk Andrew Brouwer whether his department has the appropriate resources to handle FOI requests.
Speaking directly to the requests, which are years old, Brouwer said there is a myriad of reasons why these appeals have yet to be resolved.
But Nicholson said it was still unacceptable in his view.
“I understand delays happen, but delays happening for five years should never happen under any situation,” he said.
Nicholson also noted it appears there is no way for councillors to be aware of hos city staff are handling FOI requests without requesting a specific update.
“Right now, there doesn’t seem to be a check and balance to allow council to review how effective our FOI process is,” he says.
Based on the content of the report, Nicholson said it isn’t “crystal clear” the first step for somebody seeking city information is to request it directly from staff.
“The first step is to ask staff, and either they can provide the information or they can’t,” he observed. “Too often when dealing with city staff, the answer coming out of their mouth is you have to do a freedom of information request.”
As reported previously by The Oshawa Express, the clerks department is hoping to move forward with a review of the city’s records management system.
While stating Oshawa already has a high rate of compliance, Brouwer said this review will hopefully improve the handling of FOI requests.
Ward 1 city councillor Rosemary McConkey questioned whether members of the public would be part of the review.
In the context of FOI requests, council members are considered to be members of the public.
Brouwer said because the review would focus on the internal process of “seeking, searching and creating records,” it wouldn’t include residents, something McConkey disagreed with.
“The client is the number one person in a review. Whether it is a member of the public or a member of council, I think both would be your client in this,” McConkey said. “So I’d really hope you’d consider it.”
Between 2013 and 2018, there were 36 FOI requests made specifically about the city’s purchase of property at 199 Wentworth Street East for a consolidated works depot.
Of those 36 requests, only three had all information fully disclosed.
A total of 14 have been withdrawn or abandoned, and five have been appealed, all of which are currently outstanding.
McConkey and Ward 1 regional councillor John Neal both questioned why some of the fees for these requests are more than $11,000.
Brouwer said estimated fees are in line with legislative standards.
Documents related to the purchase of 199 Wentworth Street East were originally to be released in August 2018, but have yet to see the light of day.
According to Brouwer, a lack of staff and a great amount of effort to properly review and prepare the documents are the reasons for this.
Nicholson said the city should have never issued a press release stating the records would be released in August.
Missing that self-imposed deadline is “embarrassing” to the municipality, he stated.
Ward 5 city councillor John Gray said it hurt the city’s image.
The city clerk’s department has said the documents will be released within the first quarter of 2019, a timeline Gray said they must meet to save face.
“I can’t stress enough just how important that end of the first quarter deadline is,” he said. “I think at the end of this process, we’ve got to clean up the image that the city has right now.”