Mayor was aware of Sun’s FOI request

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/12/2010 (5804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst’s knowledge of a Freedom of Information request currently being compiled for the Brandon Sun is "really unusual" and "somewhat offside," a Winnipeg-based privacy lawyer says.

Under the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Sun filed an FOI request relating to the use of a City of Brandon credit card by former city manager Brian MacRae on Nov. 10 — a report that is still outstanding.

The FOI request asked for, among other things, MacRae’s credit card usage records, vacation records and any letter of reprimand issued over the duration of his employment with the city.

Decter Hirst called a press conference on Monday to openly discuss the fact that MacRae did, in fact, use his company credit card for personal reasons over a period of time, but repaid the approximately $15,000 in charges.

In discussing the issue openly with media, Decter Hirst admitted she was made aware of the Sun’s request "almost immediately" after it was received on Nov. 10.

While it’s not something that is prohibited by law, a publicly elected official having intimate knowledge of a FOI request is "highly unusual," according to privacy and access to information lawyer Brian Bowman.

"It is highly unusual for public officials to even be aware of the content of different access requests, let alone the identity of those requesters," Bowman, a lawyer with the Winnipeg firm Pitblado LLP. "There are legal obligations in FIPPA that require only disclosures within city hall on a need-to-know basis. Revealing the identity of a requester to elected officials … it’s questionable whether or not that meets that obligation."

Section 42, subsection 3 of the province’s FIPPA legislation states that "A public body shall limit the use and disclosure of personal information in its custody or under its control to those of its employees or agents who need to know the information to carry out the purpose for which the information was collected or received …"

If a public body is found to be in contravention of the FIPPA legislation by the provincial Ombudsman, it could be fined as much as $50,000.

When questioned how and why she was made aware of the Sun’s request — which, by FIPPA protocol, should have been handled primarily by the city’s access and privacy officer — Decter Hirst said a "series of coincidences" led to the request ending up on her desk.

The Sun’s request was handed to city clerk Con Arvisais, who placed it on her desk, she said — an "honest mistake" because she’d already become involved in an internal investigation at the city level on MacRae’s credit card use.

"Not being familiar with the legislation and knowing we were already talking to auditors and those kinds of things, Con would have been concerned about this and seen the linkages between my inquiry and (the Brandon Sun’s inquiry)."

Moving forward, Decter Hirst said all staff will be orientated on how and by whom FOI requests should be handled.

The Sun will still get its FOI report — with information that wasn’t disclosed at yesterday’s media conference — in the coming days, Decter Hirst noted.