This is the story that I've been holding out on for a couple weeks, but I've finally lost my patience. Back in June, I requested two sets of documents pertaining to hours worked by city employees in various departments during various time periods. Both sets of documents were requested under the Freedom of Information Law, which requires municipalities to make some documents available.
In Saratoga Springs, FOIL requests are submitted to the City Attorney's office. The City Attorney then makes a determination on whether or not the material is releasable. If so, his office finds the missing information and submits it to the person requesting it, me in this case.

I now have to letters on my desk, one dated June 18 and signed by the City Attorney, which states:

"This is to acknowledge your Freedom of Information Law request on even date herewith. This office has forwarded your recent request for records to the approrpriate departments.
You may reasonably expect a response within the next two weeks."

Hmm... Seems to me it's been a bit longer than two weeks. Let's go to the next letter.

This one is dated June 12, also signed by the City Attorney:

"Any documents that would be responsive to this request should be forthcoming within the next three (3) weeks."

Hmm...

Of course, I have been in contact with the City Attorney's office on this matter, I believe that they are working to collect the documents I requested. I also spoke with the head of the department in question, shortly after submitting the original request, who indicated that there would not be a problem with releasing the information. However, it should not be taking this long.

The ongoing fight over these documents leads me to believe that either there is something interesting contained in what I've requested, and the department in question is working to suppress the information, or City Hall believes that if they delay long enough, I'll simply forget about my requests. Fat chance of that happening.

According to the New York Public Officer's law, under which FOIL requests fall, The Saratogian has recourse to bring suit against the city, but of course, I'd rather not bother with that. I'd be satisfied just to have my documents.

One thing is certain, City Hall is not working as hard as it should be to minimize the tax payer's legal liability if they are letting FOIL requests spoil to the point of possible suit, and no tax payer should be satisfied with that, to say nothing of the ramifications on this administration's stance on open government. Or should I saw closed government?