Avalon Bay FOIL Request Continues To Be Ignored

Filed under: Government,News |

Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) New York State’s Freedom of Information Law (Public Officers Law §87 et. seq. ) allows members of the public to access records of governmental agencies. FOIL provides a process for the review and copying of an agency’s records. More information about the Freedom of Information Law can be found at: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/foil2.html

 

At the June 6th Town Board meeting, resident Daniel Karpen submitted two FOIL requests directly to Town Supervisor Frank Petrone. He was requesting a copy of the legal memo fromTown Attorney John Leo stating that no EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) is required for Avalon Bay. He also asked if no such memo existed, to please let him know. In addition, he requested to know if there was an EIS process, who was designated the Lead Agency. It is proper procedure for there to be some sort of resolution or other legal means to establish a Lead Agency for the EIS. Researchers for the Huntingtonian looked at the DRAFT EIS and noticed that the current Town Board is listed as the Lead Agency. If this is the case, there needed to be a formal declaration.

As of August 21, there has been no compliance according to Mr. Karpen. To date, the only document the public has seen is a Draft EIS. A typical amount of wait time for a FOIL request such as this should be approximately 5 days. Mr. Karpen is now waiting more than 2 1/2 months. He even showed up in person twice and went on the public record twice to no avail. Please see attached videos from the June 6th and August 2, 2011 Town Board meetings. The Huntingtonian will keep readers informed about the progress of these requests and attempt to establish why Town Hall is not complying with the FOIL requests.

Here is the video of Dan Karpen Speaking Before the Town Board on 6-6-2011 making the initial FOIL requests.

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Here is the video of Dan Karpen Speaking Before the Town Board on 8-2-2011 reminding the Town Board that he has not received an answer to his FOIL requests from the 6-6-2011 Town Board Meeting

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One Response to Avalon Bay FOIL Request Continues To Be Ignored

  1. Huntington under Petrone is not open government. It’s about backroom deals and beating back the public on important issues. The New York State Committee on Open government should be able to help Mr. Karpen for free. This is a state government service that is suppose to help the citizens obtain the information they want from local governments and their agencies. If they do not perhaps Mr. Karpen should give all his information and data to the Greater Huntington Civic Association that is suing the town over it’s Avalon Bay deal.

    Marshall Field
    September 11, 2011 10:19 am at 10:19 am

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