Dawn Maruno

The appellant appealed a fee estimate of $150 charged by the municipality for processing a freedom of information request for waste site revenue records.

The municipality based the fee on five hours of manual search time.

The adjudicator found that while a manual search was necessary, the estimated time of five hours was excessive for the volume of records involved.

The adjudicator reduced the reasonable search time to 2.5 hours and upheld a fee of $75.00.

In an appeal regarding a freedom of information request for records relating to boiler regulation, the adjudicator issued an interim order to determine whether the representations submitted by the Ministry and two affected parties should be shared with the appellant.

Applying the IPC's confidentiality criteria, the adjudicator found that portions of the representations revealing the substance of the records or qualifying as exempt third-party information must be withheld.

The remaining portions were ordered disclosed to the appellant to ensure fairness in the appeal process.

The appellant submitted a multi-part request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for records relating to the interchangeability of drugs.

The Ministry issued a fee estimate of $921.90 and denied a fee waiver.

The appellant appealed the fee estimate and the denial of the fee waiver.

The adjudicator upheld the fee estimate as reasonable given the broad scope of the request and the multiple locations of the records.

The adjudicator also upheld the denial of the fee waiver, finding that dissemination of the records would not provide a substantial benefit to public health and safety.