PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Plans to streamline the Freedom of Information Act at Portage City Hall took a slight detour this week, when the council objected to one proposed change.
The FOIA act requires government agencies to make documents available on request from any member of the public, within certain guidelines, usually with a fee attached to cover the cost of producing those documents.
The proposed revision would have replaced the council with the city manager to hear final appeals when those requests are denied.
Council member Terry Urban disagreed with that proposal, as did several other council members.
City attorney Catherine Kaufman says it’s perfectly legal to let the cty manager handle appeals, which are extremely rare.
But the council unanimously voted that this is one shortcut they would rather not take and amended the proposal to retain responsibility for handling appeals.
If the citizen still disagrees, they can take the city to court.
FOIA requests can be denied if they violate privacy rights or trade secrets, involve ongoing police investigations, are overly broad or the requester does not give adequate identification. There are nine reasons listed in the act.
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