Freedom of Odd Information Request

Councillors were circulated during the week from the Clerk's Office.

A request has been received from an individual for copies of all e-mails exchanged between Councillors and a particular individual who is known as a prolific and somewhat careless e-mail writer.

I don't know the name of the individual making the request. It's protected under the Privacy Act.

I know the name of the second individual. I don't know if it's protected under the Privacy Act . The Clerk's office is closed on a Saturday so I can't ask. I will follow the maxim that discretion is the better part of valour and not tell.

It is a familiar name. The party is not normally jealous of privacy.

There has been no e-mail exchange with myself except, I suspect, an insulting and accusatory anonymous comment thrown in my direction here and there.

Councillor MacEachern seems slightly perturbed by the request. A comment to the clerk indicates her impression FOI requests have increased lately.

They haven't. The Clerk has only started reporting to Council . Requests received. with the year not complete, reflect fewer than other years of the term, since 2006.

The Councillor seems to know the name of the party making the requests.That's odd . It's supposed to be private. But not really. I suppose if a sufficient number of odd things happen, they are no longer odd.They become normal under the circumstances.

The Councillor wonders if the town is charging full fees.

The fees are $30. an hour for searches and an additional 25cents per page of copy. It's fixed by provincial regulations. We can't charge more.

Depending how deep the search, I imagine the cost could add up to a substantial amount. One instance I know of, the cost actually discouraged the request.

The Councillor wanted to know if the search would include third parties. That's where I lost the thread of the questions.

The request is intriguing.

How would anyone but parties to the exchange, know there had been an exchange?. Would the Clerk know if e-mails had been exchanged and could the information be with-held?

I wonder what the exchange was about. Could it be damaging? Why would it be of interest?

I wonder if an invitation to be a friend on Facebook qualifies as an exchange, even if it wasn't accepted.

I got one. I didn't accept it.

I get lots of them. I don't usually click to confirm. I'm never sure of the context and am mostly busy with other things.

But that wasn't precisely the case with the individual whose e-mail exchange with Councillors is the subject of an FOI request and of concern to Councillor MacEachern.

I didn't accept that invitation to be a friend either, so I'm guessing it wont qualify as an exchange.

The Clerk indicates he will be submitting the quarterly report soon. I look forward to seeing how comprehensive it might be.

Maybe we will read about the information elsewhere before then.

Like I said. It's intriguing.

What does the person making the FOI request know that I don't ? Why would it be worth paying for?