Complainant alleged that the DOA and the OHHS violated the APRA when they failed to timely respond to or specifically deny her requests/correspondences. After reviewing the voluminous evidence in this matter, we found that the allegations concerned three interrelated but legally distinct...
Complainant alleged that the Town violated the APRA when it failed to produce certain documents responsive to his request and failed to explain the denial. This Department has held on numerous occasions that the failure of a public body to produce records that do not exist does not violate the APRA.
The North Smithfield Town Council did not violate the OMA when it convened into executive session for litigation purposes pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws 42-46-5(a)(2). A review of the executive session minutes determined that the subject-matter was appropriate for executive session. Also, the Town...
The Complainant alleged that the School Committee violated the OMA when it deliberated with its attorney outside of open session. We previously addressed a nearly identical question in In re: Rhode Island Ethics Commission, ADV OM 00-03. There, we found that public body "members who merely address...
Complainants alleged numerous OMA violations relating to a January 10, 2017 Town Council meeting. With respect to the alleged defect in the notice for the meeting, we found that several Complainants attended the meeting in question and that no Complainant sufficiently articulated how they were...
The Complainant alleged the Westerly School Committee ("School Committee") violated the OMA when the Chairman of the School Committee read a statement during the Public Comment section of one of its meeting, yet there was no item on the agenda indicating the statement would be read. Consistent...
In Moses Afonso Ryan, Ltd v. City of East Providence, we reviewed the Complainant's Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") complaint against the City of East Providence ("City") and concluded that the City violated the APRA when it improperly denied the Complainant's APRA request. See R.I. Gen....
The Complainant alleged the Town of Cumberland ("Town") violated the APRA when it improperly redacted and denied his APRA request seeking records concerning the death of a third party. In In re: Cumberland Police Department, ADV PR 03-02, this Department concluded that "when a law enforcement...
There was no evidence that the DOC unreasonably conducted its search and retrieval, which consisted of two hours, the first hour being free. Because the Complainant did not tender pre-payment, as a matter of law, the DOC could not have denied access. R.I. Gen. Laws 38-2-7(b). The DOC did deny...
Complainant alleged that the CCRI violated the APRA when it failed to produce documents responsive to his request. We have previously stated that the APRA governs the public's right to access public documents, but does not mandate or require that public bodies answer questions. See Gagnon v. City...
