[Adopted 3-14-1978 by Res. No. 55]
A.
Personnel of the City shall furnish to the public
the information and records required by law, subject to the conditions
contained in §§ 86, 87 and 89 of Article 6 of the Public
Officers Law or other provisions of law.
B.
All records shall be available for inspection and
copying, except such records as follows:
(1)
Are specifically exempted from disclosure by state
or federal statute.
(3)
If disclosed would impair present or imminent contract
awards or collective bargaining negotiations.
(4)
Are trade secrets or are maintained for the regulation
of commercial enterprise which, if disclosed, would cause substantial
injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise.
(5)
Are compiled for law enforcement purposes and which,
if disclosed, would:
(a)
Interfere with law enforcement investigations
or judicial proceedings.
(b)
Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial
or impartial adjudication.
(c)
Identify a confidential source or disclose confidential
information relating to a criminal investigation.
(d)
Reveal criminal investigative techniques or
procedures, except routine techniques and procedures.
(6)
If disclosed would endanger the life or safety of
any person.
(8)
Are examination questions or answers which are requested
prior to the final administration of such questions.
C.
Invasion of personal privacy.
(1)
An unwarranted invasion of personal privacy includes
but shall not be limited to:
(a)
Disclosure of employment, medical or credit
histories or personal references of applicants for employment.
(b)
Disclosure of items involving the medical or
personal records of a client or patient in a medical facility.
(c)
Sale or release of lists of names and addresses
if such lists would be used for commercial or fundraising purposes.
(d)
Disclosure of information of a personal nature
when disclosure would result in economic or personal hardship to the
subject party and such information is not relevant to the work of
the agency requesting or maintaining it.
(e)
Disclosure of information of a personal nature
reported in confidence to an agency and not relevant to the ordinary
work of such agency.
(2)
Disclosure of any of the foregoing shall not be construed
to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy where the
person to whom a record pertains consents in writing to disclosure
or where the records requested relate to and concern only the person
requesting such records and such person presents proof of his identity.
A.
The City Manager shall be responsible for assuring
compliance with this article and shall designate one or more persons,
by name or by specific job title and official address, as records
access officers.
B.
The records access officers shall be responsible for assuring appropriate response to public requests for access to records. The records access officers shall assure that appropriate personnel are adequately instructed in and properly perform the functions described in §§ 259-8 and 259-9 of this article, and shall supervise the administration of this article.
B.
Such fiscal officer shall:
(1)
Respond in accordance with § 259-8B to requests for an itemized record setting forth the name, public office, address, title and salary of every officer or employee of the City; and
(2)
Make the payroll items listed above available to any
person, including bona fide members of the news media as provided
in § 87 of the Freedom of Information Law.
Records shall be available for public inspection
and copying at the location where they are kept.
Requests for public access to records shall
be accepted and records produced during all hours that City offices
are regularly open for business, except that all records must be returned
to their proper custodian at least five minutes before closing time.
A.
Where a request for records is required, such request
may be oral or in writing as specified by the records access officer.
Appropriate forms shall be provided where a written request is required.
B.
Except under extraordinary circumstances, officials
shall respond to a request for records no more than five business
days after receipt of the request is received. The acknowledgment
shall state the reason for delay and estimate the date when a reply
will be made.
C.
A request for access to records should be sufficiently
detailed to identify the records. Where possible, the requester should
supply information regarding dates, titles, file designations or other
information which may help identify the records.
D.
A current list, by subject matter, of all records
available under the Freedom of Information Law shall be available
for public inspection and copying at the office of the City Clerk.
The subject matter list shall be updated periodically and the date
of the most recent updating shall appear on the first page. The updating
of the subject matter list shall not be less than semiannual.
E.
Appropriate personnel of the City shall assist the
requester in identifying requested records.
F.
Upon locating the requested records, the appropriate personnel of the City shall, as promptly as possible, and within the time limits set in subsection B above either make the records available for inspection or deny access in whole or part, and explain in writing the reasons therefor.
G.
Upon failure to locate records, the appropriate official
shall certify that the City is not the legal custodian of the requested
records or that the requested records, after diligent search, cannot
be found.
A.
A person who has requested access to the public records of this City shall be given full opportunity to see and inspect such records, unless access is denied as provided in § 259-10 herein.
B.
The requester may also make a copy of the records
he inspects, but no record may be removed from the office where it
is located without the written permission of the person in charge
of the office at that time.
C.
Upon request and payment of the established fee, the
appropriate officer or employee shall prepare and deliver a transcript
of such records.
D.
Upon request, an appropriate official of the City
shall certify as correct a transcript prepared by the custodian of
the records.
A.
Denial of access to records shall be in writing stating
the reason therefor and advising the requester of the right to appeal
to the individual or body established to hear appeals.
B.
The person denied access may appeal within 30 days
from the date of the denial.
C.
The City Manager shall designate a person or persons
to hear appeals from denial of access to records.
D.
The time for deciding an appeal by the individual
to hear appeals shall commence upon receipt of written appeal identifying:
E.
The individual designated to hear appeals shall inform
the requester of his decision in writing within seven business days
of receipt of an appeal.
A notice containing the job title or name and
business address of the records access officers and fiscal officer;
the name, job title, business address and telephone number of the
appeal person or persons; and the location where records can be seen
or copied shall be posted in the office of the City Clerk.
