DeWolf v. Town of Coventry, 051217 RIAGO, AGO PR 17-29

• Case Date: May 12, 2017
• Court: Rhode Island

DeWolf v. Town of Coventry AGO PR 17-29 No. PR 17-29 Rhode Island Attorney General Opinions State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations May 12, 2017           David D'Agostino, Esq.          Ms. Ellen DeWolf          Dear Ms. DeWolf:          The investigation into your Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") complaint filed against the Town of Coventry ("Town") is complete. By email correspondence dated December 11, 2016, you allege the Town violated the APRA when it failed to respond to your APRA request dated November 18, 2016 in a timely manner. Your November 18, 2016 APRA request was directed to the Zoning Clerk of the Department of Planning and Zoning. In our acknowledgment letter, we suggested that you may want to supplement your complaint to advise whether your November 18, 2016 APRA request conformed to the Town's APRA procedures. We received no response from you on this issue.          In response to your complaint, we received a substantive response from the Town's legal counsel, David M. D'Agostino, Esquire. Attorney D'Agostino states, in pertinent part:

"[T]he Town's policy and procedure for obtaining public records pursuant to the APRA are posted on the Town's website. * * * The policy and procedure clearly establishes the Town Clerk as the authorized party to whom APRA requests are to be directed. A review of the Town's APRA request form (also posted on the Town's website) confirms this. * * *

By the Complainant's own statements, information and documentation, she did not address her APRA request to the Town Clerk; instead her letter was addressed as follows:

Ms. Kerrie Karwoski, Zoning Clerk,

Dept. of Planning & Zoning, Town of Coventry

1675 Flat River Road

Coventry, RI 02816

While Ms. Karwoski is indeed the Zoning/Planning Clerk, she is not the designated person to whom APRA requests are to be directed under the Town's posted APRA policies and procedures. It is also important to note that the 1675 Flat River Road [ ] address is not the address of Town Hall, nor is it the correct address of the Town Clerk. That address, again, provided in the Town's policies and procedures and on the posted APRA request form, is 1690 Flat River Road.

Notwithstanding, the Complainant's

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