County advises college

Freedom of information law at issue

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — The college said he made about 100 document requests since September 2007; he said it was actually 37. Regardless of which figure is correct, it’s clear that the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests submitted to Sullivan County Community College by Kenneth Walter have become a major irritant.

The FOIL requests were discussed at a meeting at the government center on May 14, which was attended by the county legislature and the college board of trustees.

Phyllis Coombs, chair of the college board, said that numerous requests for information from Walter were a form of harassment. She said the requests started after the company, which is erecting a vertical windmill on college property, rejected Walter’s request that the company buy his mother’s land and place the windmill on it.

Walter, on the other hand, said that the conversation about selling the property was started by then vice president of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development Don Perry.

Members of the legislature mostly found this part of the discussion to be immaterial to the more important question at hand. Is the college living up to the spirit of state FOIL laws?

Lawmaker Leni Binder said it was somewhat inappropriate to bring up the matter of the possible sale of Walter’s land. She said, “He might have personal motives, but we’re not in a court of law here.”

Lawmaker David Sager acknowledged that Walter is a “thorn in your side,” for the college, but he said, “You’re talking about a two-year period and 100 FOIL requests, and while it may be tedious, I don’t think it’s out of control.” He said the college has an obligation to make reasonable attempts to see that the requests be responded to in the manner and with time frames defined in the law.

College board member Sharon Jankiewicz said that the college had responded to the FOIL requests. Walter, however, said that at least 10 that he had sent had never been responded to at all, including a couple that related to technical information about the two windmill projects that are scheduled to be erected on the campus.

Backing up his claims was Bill Burn, a former college staff member, who has been trying to obtain various records from the college through FOIL. Burns said that several years ago, he was aggressively pursuing a FOIL request, and was told by a member of the college administration that if he went through with it, members of the college staff would be fired. Burns said he dropped the matter because he didn’t want to endanger the jobs of friends who still worked at the college. His wife also still works at the college. Burns told the lawmakers that many other of his FOIL requests have not received responses.

Burn’s and Walter’s position that the college is not properly handling FOIL requests has been affirmed in the past by county attorney Sam Yasgur, who is also the college’s FOIL appeals officer.

Jonathan Rouis, the county chair, told the college board members that the legislature, which is a sponsor of the college and provides about a third of its yearly budget, was seeking reassurance from the board. He said, “From our perspective, we’d like to get a comfort level from you that you’re going to direct the administration to adhere to the spirit of the law.”

There was no direct answer from the board members at the meeting, and college president Mamie Golladay did not attend the meeting.