County fire marshal fails to acknowledge FOIL request

Stephen Romano

The Nassau County Fire Marshal’s Investigative Division failed to acknowledge a Blank Slate Media Freedom of Information Law request within five days, the legal time frame.

The request, which asked for the “investigation report and all other records” pertaining to the fire that occurred at the Baxter House at 15 Shore Road in Port Washington, was made on Feb. 8.

The county’s FOIL system immediately sent an automated response with a copy of the request but did not grant or deny the request.

Public Officers Law article 6 section 89 of the state’s Freedom of Information Law states that an agency has five business days to grant or deny “access in whole or in part or if more time is needed, to acknowledge the receipt of the request in writing and indicate an approximate date by which the agency will respond to the request, usually not more than 20 additional business days.”

The Investigations Division sent a confirmation email on March 9 following a Blank Slate Media reporter’s phone call.

“They failed to comply with the law because they failed to acknowledge the request,” said Robert Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government. “They should have acknowledged it.”

In a recent Press Club of Long Island audit that graded government agencies on their responsiveness to FOIL requests, the county fire marshal’s office received a B rating. It took 338 days for the office to fully fulfill the Press Club’s request.

The division supervisor in the fire marshal’s office could not be reached for comment.

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