Summerside working on access to information bylaw

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The City of Summerside is taking steps to better comply with the access to information section of the new Municipal Government Act (MGA).

At the Jan. 20 regularly scheduled council meeting, council entered the first reading of two new bylaws into the record.

One of which was Access to Information and Protection of Personal Information bylaw.

Iain McCarvill of Key Murray Law said the MGA is "prescriptive by nature".

"It's a shift in municipal government. The regulations are very broad ... Access to information can include records, any information electronic, handwritten and can be subject to an access to information request."

With the MGA'a direction, council doesn't have a lot of discretion, he added.

"The public has presumptive access to the information."

Lisa Langdale, the executive assistant to the city's chief administrative officer (CAO), mayor and council has been named the city's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPP) co-ordinator. She will be tasked with receiving requests and inquiries and following the bylaw process, said McCarvill.

"She will be the first point of contact for the media or the general public," said CAO Rob Philpott.

McCarvill said that under the care and control of the bylaw, records under a public body (like a municipal council) are "presumptively available".

This could include contracts, communications and other documents.

There are penalties if documents are altered or destroyed in an attempt to avoid a FOIPP request and carry a fine up to $10,000, said McCarvill.

What is under the discretion of council, is the fee cost associated with the request.

For a photocopying service of the requested document, fees are eight cents per page. If the service requires administrative staff or IT, the charge is $25 per hour; senior staff and management, $50 per hour, and external legal counsel is the actual cost of the acquiring counsel. These fees are to be paid, 50 per cent upfront by the applicant or requester and the remaining balance paid before the release of the information.

"Council has discretion over the fees, but the fee can not be worth more than the actual cost of the service to the city," McCarvill said.

During the discussions, Coun. Brian McFeely questioned if council had a full understanding of the budget implications.

"There are a lot of obligations on staff in terms of searching, collecting, compiling, reviewing and disclosing this information, and to my knowledge, there has been no increased funding as a way to help cover some of these costs," said McCarvill.

Philpott confirmed this.

Software other municipalities use to help with FOIPP requests, like the city of Saint John, N.B., can cost around $20,000, said McCarvill.

Meanwhile, Coun. Justin Doiron asked what a typical FOIPP request could look like.

"It depends on the nature of the information," said Philpott.

"First we would respond to the [applicant] as quickly as possible to give them an idea of how much it would cost. And, depending on the nature of it, it could be concentrated to one department or multiple departments."

During the meeting, McCarvill said Langdale will be taught best practices for a relatively quick turn around to acknowledge the request as well as a response the would include either disclosing the documents or providing a timeline.

"My understanding is the documents required under the Municipal Government Act to be disclosed are ones that inevitably end up on the city's website anyway. They, in large part, are documents the city has made public ... and there is the ability under the legislation that if that information will become public knowledge anyway, i.e., it will be up on the website within 60 days, that Lisa would be able to respond and let the person know they have a right to access the information and it will be up on the website within 60 days."

Also during the meeting, a YouTube watcher of the meeting asked if a FOIPP request is denied [or redacted], does a person have the chance to appeal the decision.

In short, they do.

"It's incumbent to provide a specific authority why," said McCarvill.

If an appeal is issued, a third party adjudicator would be appointed to handle the appeal. Some individuals may also decide to go directly to the privacy commissioner, McCarvill added.

He encouraged council to act as if the bylaw were in effect now, going forward, but said it would, to his understanding, officially be in effect upon the adoption of council.

They are required to have it in effect by Feb. 28, according to the MGA.

The first readings of the two bylaws were approved unanimously.