Our board is looking for prove that certain items cannot be accessed by FOIL within Animal Control as was stated to us by the Animal Control Officer as told to him by the New York State Police. Does anyone have any information to back up this statement?
When it comes to Animal Control Documentation...What is protected from FOIL?
Sorry, can not help you with this one.
Have never had a request for animal control information so haven't had to learn the rules in Colorado.
Wish I could help but this is a new one for me. Good luck!
I can't help with this one either - in Illinois all of the records for our Township Animal Control Center would be acccessible.
I would contact Municipal Research Services. They might be able to provide some insight. http://mrsc.org
Sorry, I'm not able to help with this one.
In New York State records can only be withheld for very spacific reasons including "unwarrented invasion of personal privacy" or disclosure would indanger someone. I would need to know more spacificly what they are saying is cannot be disclosed to know if it has to be made public or not.
You should contact the New York State Committee on Open Government directly about this one. There are so many ins and outs to the NYS FOIL law and you don't want to misinterpret it and wronfully deny the FOIL. You can call them directly at (518) 474-2518 or send them an email at coog@dos.ny.gov. They are very responsive and have been of great assistance to our Village in the past. Also, your Village Counsel should be helping answer this question for you as well.
Sorry I can't be of any help with this one.
We treat animal control records like we would and other record. We redact what is required by law and give the report to the customer.
I haven't had that question asked before
can't help with this issue
have never had this issue, sorry
No, our animal control records are all public records.
In British Columbia we protect personal information such as identity and addresses of persons who file complaints. We recently had a video from the complainant proving a barking dog issue was valid and even though requested by the ticket disputant, we withheld it until it was played in front of the arbitrator. In instances where a ticket dispute proceeds to arbitration, all complainants are advised that their evidence will be released to both the arbitrator and the disputant.
As per your question Nancy, I believe it depends where you live and what the governing legislation requires.
Is this not at the discretion of the FOI Head? Just questioning what is stated in the legislation.
Sorry do not have an answer for this one.
In my experience in California, animal control and code enforcement records are not releasable to the public until a case is closed. The complainant information is not released. This is supportrd in state law that has to comply with federal law.