HomeMy WebLinkAboutFOIL Memo for Boards and Committees11/2020 revised 12/2025
Memo on FOIL
Freedom Of Information Law
You may or may not have heard of FOIL before but it is the law under which a person can
request documents from government entities in the pursuit of full disclosure and transparency.
I thought I should give you all a primer on what the law is and what your responsibilities are as
board/committee members (Officials) and holding documents (usually emails).
Freedom of Information Law https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/index.html
The Committee on Open Government is an exceptional research source on this topic with an
extensive library of responses to questions posed by different entities. They are also very
responsive to an emailed question. Please do not hesitate to use the site or contact me with
questions.
“Document”
A document or record is “any means any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced
by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form whatsoever including, but
not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books,
manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms,
computer tapes or discs, rules, regulations or codes.” In usage it essentially means everything!
If you are using Town computers or your own, it doesn’t matter. Work for the town is
government work as far as the law is concerned.
There are 2 exceptions to what must be disclosed that we have the option to withhold:
1) Documents/Emails between Officials, Officials and staff or Officials and staff between a
hired consultant (they become staff essentially, until a final report is submitted as a
“record”) are called intra-agency.
2) Documents/Emails between other governmental agencies are called inter-agency.
These exceptions are to promote and protect the free flow of ideas and opinions of Officials
without the fear of the public hearing or seeing those comments. If an Official was concerned
the public may be able to see everything they say, they may not be as open as needed to do good
work.
Of course, there are exclusions to the intra- or inter-agency exceptions. The portions that must
be disclosed are those that contain:
i. statistical or factual tabulations or data;
ii. instructions to staff that affect the public;
iii. final agency policy or determinations; or
iv. external audits, including but not limited to audits performed by the comptroller and the
federal government
11/2020 revised 12/2025
FOIL requests should always go through the Town Clerk as Records Management Officer. The
Clerk will facilitate the gathering of documents and work with staff and counsel when necessary
to determine whether any records or portions of records will be withheld.
Retention Schedule
NYS has an established retention schedule called the LGS-01 Schedule which we follow.
Basically, it is a common sense based 4 tier retention schedule:
1. Zero after no longer needed, such as an invitation,
2. 1 year, such as a thank you note,
3. 6 years such as yearly reports from agencies (think Lifelong) and
4. Permanent such as complaints or comments on a topic submitted from the public, final
reports and minutes.
It is important that in your work as an Official, you attempt to keep to this schedule. Any 6-year
or permanent correspondence or documents should be forwarded to the Town Clerk or your Staff
liaison for proper filing and retention.
By following a retention schedule, a FOIL is fulfilled according to that schedule and I can safely
say to the person, “to the best of my knowledge these are all the documents in the town’s
possession”
My contact info:
Clerks@townithacany.gov or 607-273-1721 option 1
Paulette Rosa,
Town Clerk/RMO