Brockport addresses FOIL issue

Freedom of Information (FOIL) requests have long been a point of contention between village residents and village officials in Brockport. At the June 20 board meeting, Mayor Josephine Matela pointed out that prior to her coming on board, there really was no procedure in place for FOIL requests.

"We have had requests from several individuals during the course of my tenure," she said. Those requests numbered from 17 from one individual to 203 from another with requests in between ranging from 164 requests to 63. And some of the requests, depending on their nature, had to go to the village attorney, at a rate of $90 per hour.

"Unless information is pertinent to personnel or litigation issues it should be readily available to the public. They shouldn't have to FOIL everything," Trustee Mort Wexler said.

Village Clerk Leslie Morelli said she takes exception to the FOIL conversations. "The process involves filling out one piece of paper that requests what information an individual is seeking," she said. "It can be filled out in person, on line, or faxed in ... I could even fill it out for someone if they can't come in. It's not an exhaustive process."

Under the FOIL procedure, if the information is readily available the individual seeking the information can receive it within five days, or if it isn't at the village officials' fingertips, it could take up to 20 days.

"We need to have those FOIL requests on file so we can keep track of who is getting what information," she said.

In other matters the board:

•Approved a request by Lift Bridge Books to block off two parking spaces on July 16 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. for use by a traveling barbecue bus.

•Heard from Code Enforcement Officer Scott Zarnstorff that his department had performed a record 235 inspections in May.

•Heard from Deputy Fire Chief Larry Vaughn that the fire department had responded to 414 fire calls and 762 EMS calls this year - a bit below last year's numbers.