The Complainant filed an anonymous complaint asking this Office to file a lawsuit for alleged violations of the APRA and seeking injunctive relief. While R.I. Gen. Laws 38-2-3(j) provides that a public body shall not require, "as a condition of fulfilling a public records request, that a person...
The Complainant alleged that the City violated the APRA when it disclosed a requested list of condemned properties but redacted the street numbers of the properties. After weighing the public interest in disclosure against any privacy interests, we found that there was a public interest in...
The Complainant alleged that the CRMC violated the APRA when it withheld requested documents pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-2(4)(K). The CRMC maintained that we should find no violation because the Complainant had not followed the CRMC's APRA procedures, but as best as we could tell, the APRA...
The Complainant filed an anonymous complaint asking this Office to file a lawsuit for alleged violations of the APRA and seeking injunctive relief. While R.I. Gen. Laws 38-2-3(j) provides that a public body shall not require, "as a condition of fulfilling a public records request, that a person...
Complainant presented no evidence that he had been aggrieved by the allegation that minutes had not been timely posted to the Secretary of State's website and presented no evidence that he had been aggrieved by other alleged deficiencies in the minutes. See Graziano v. Rhode Island Lottery...
The Fire District violated the OMA when it failed to post supplemental notice for its February 2018 meeting on the Secretary of State's website. There was no evidence the Fire District willfully or knowingly violated the OMA, and in fact, the Fire District posted its supplemental notice for the...
The Complainant's APRA request sought weekly certified payroll records of Martone Service Company's purported subcontractor, New England Masonry. We found no evidence that a separate document concerning New England Masonry existed that was being improperly withheld. Since no weekly certified...
The Pascoag Fire District violated the APRA when it failed to respond to a request in a timely manner. The Fire District was directed to file a supplemental response so that this Department could examine and determine whether the violation was "knowing and willful" or "reckless" within R.I. Gen....
The fifty-seven (57) Subcommittees of the Bristol Fourth of July Committee sought an OMA advisory opinion concerning whether they are "public bod[ies]" subject to the OMA. However, we were provided few facts regarding the fifty-seven (57) Subcommittees upon whose status we were asked to opine....
Based upon this Department's in camera review of the executive session meeting minutes, the Exeter West Greenwich Regional School District did not violate the OMA. The evidence revealed that the School District properly convened into executive session and its discussion was proper under R.I. Gen....
