The number of requests for public documents from Coquitlam City Hall is on the rise.
City staff say they fielded 148 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests between January to October this year versus 149 applications for all of 2022.
By comparison, the city clerk’s office processed 139 FOI submissions in 2021 and 138 the year prior from individuals, law firms, public bodies, third-party contractors, business owners, insurance adjusters and the media.
According to a report that went before the city’s council-in-committee last month, the following requests were made in 2022 for information about:
- 56: fire/rescue (incidents, investigations, inspections)
- 35: engineering (traffic camera footage, environmental concerns, encroachments, snow clearing, service requests and work orders)
- 17: legal (bylaw enforcement, claims, property use, licensing)
- 15: records relating to multiple departments
- 12: planning and development (sign applications, reports, complaints)
- 9: parks and recreation (attendance records, incidents, contracts, CCTV)
- 5: administration/council (council correspondence)
Last year, city staff scanned more than 12,000 pages of public records that resulted in about 5,700 pages being released.
Those reviews took up nearly 858 hours — equal to 114 days — of staff time, with most processing happening within three hours; however, some more complex reviews took up to 20 hours with staff having to evaluate each submission, liaise with the appropriate departments or agencies, photocopy and compile information, redact private details and respond within the allocated 30 business days.
In addition to FOI requests, the city clerk’s department also processed 64 Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) to advise municipal staff on privacy-related matters — up from 42 in 2020.
Stephanie James, Coquitlam’s general manager of legislative services, told the committee that the department is planning a review of all elements of the city’s Privacy Management and Accountability Program (PMAP) in the new year following provincial government changes that took effect on Feb. 1.
These amendments, which relate to privacy management programs and mandatory privacy breach notifications, reflect the increasing social and legal expectations, James wrote in her report to the committee.
