Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has determined that the City of Woonsocket violated the Access to Public Records Act (APRA) when it failed to respond to a request made by Lt. Steven R. Reilly, President of Woonsocket Firefighters Local 732, International Association of Firefighters, for certain records pertaining to the layoffs of 11 members of the Woonsocket Fire Department.

In determining the City of Woonsocket to be in violation, Lynch ordered the City to respond to Firefighters Local 732’s request within 10 business days of the date of the finding, Oct. 28, 2009. Lynch also ordered that the City may not charge for its response.

In an Apr. 7, 2009, letter sent by certified mail from Lt. Reilly to Mayor Susan Menard, Lt. Reilly requested records of any and all payments made by the city to any vendor, attorney and/or arbitrator related to the “…recent court action between Woonsocket Firefighters Local 732 and the City of Woonsocket that took place during the months of January and February, 2009, in regard to the layoffs of 11 members of the Woonsocket Fire Department.” Failing to receive any response to his APRA request, Lt. Reilly filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office on May 4, 2009.

“Not only did the City of Woonsocket fail to respond to Lieutenant Reilly’s APRA request, but the City failed to communicate with him at all,” Lynch said. “Furthermore, repeated attempts by my office’s Open Government Unit to elicit a response failed, the last time on July 28, when we warned that the City had five days to respond to us before we would have no choice but to issue a finding based on the information provided to us by Lieutenant Reilly.”

Lynch further commented that the City could still be found liable of a civil fine, not to exceed $1,000, plus fees, if it is found to have committed a “knowing and willful” violation.

“Within 10 business days of our finding issued on Oct. 28, we must receive a substantive response that explains the City’s failure to respond to the request made by the President of Woonsocket Firefighters Local 732,” Lynch said. “When that time period expires, we will begin our review to determine whether we will seek civil fines. A willful and knowing failure to respond to APRA is not only unacceptable, it’s also illegal.”

To date, Lynch has brought four lawsuits against public bodies under his authority as Attorney General, pursuant to Rhode Island’s open-government laws.

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Please note: A PDF copy of AG Lynch’s finding against the City of Woonsocket is attached to this press release.

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