A Freedom of Information decision, limiting the number of requests a Summerland man can make about the community含羞草研究社檚 municipal government could be appealed.
Graham Statt, chief administrative officer for Summerland, said the applicant is able to appeal the decision through the Supreme Court.
However, such an appeal would not involve lawyers representing the municipality, he said. Instead, it would be directed to the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for the province.
含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 the end of the matter from our end,含羞草研究社� Statt said.
The 20-page decision, from adjudicator Celia Francis, dated Feb. 29, was released following a flood of Freedom of Information requests from one Summerland resident, with some also sent in by members of the resident含羞草研究社檚 family.
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Nine of 10 requests studied under the ruling would have generated 46,791 pages of responsive records and three video files. The volume of pages for the 10th request was not calculated.
The adjudicator authorized the municipality to disregard the 10 requests. In addition, for the next 10 years, the municipality is to respond to only one request at a time from the respondent and his family, to determine what a request is and to spend no more than eight hours responding to each request,
The requests from the applicant had been numerous and time-consuming, said Francis in her decision.
From 2021 to 2023, the 62 closed requests from the respondent required 565 hours of Summerland municipal staff time, at a cost of $70,626. During the same three-year period, all other Freedom of Information requests received by the municipality resulted in 623 hours and a cost of $77,875.
In 2023, Summerland spent more than $100,000 to manage the volume of Freedom of Information requests. This did not include staff time and associated legal fees.
On social media, the applicant said he will appeal the decision, which he describes as deeply flawed and unreasonable.
However, Statt said some of the reactions to the decision from the province含羞草研究社檚 Information and Privacy Commissioner are from people who have not read the 20-page decision.
含羞草研究社淚 think there含羞草研究社檚 a lot of misunderstanding of what the decision means and doesn含羞草研究社檛 mean,含羞草研究社� he said.
The full text of the decision can be found online at .
