Council Member Brewer on FOIL system improvements
Brewer raises concerns about the FOIL system after the law department claimed no records existed despite evidence to the contrary. Shahada acknowledges the frustration from her private practice experience and suggests FOIL could be an area DOI examines, which Brewer encourages.
And also just on a sort of an additional issue, I'm concerned about the fact that the FOIL stated or the FOIL staff stated that they had no records.
Do you have any sense maybe from past experience why or how we could improve the FOIL system?
I know there is at the Department of Records, there's now a dashboard and there's more information about FOIL in general, but it does seem to me that there needs to be a better system for FOIL.
Do you have any sense of how that should work?
I don't have any recommendations right now about FOIL.
I can tell you as when I was in private practice, I filed some FOIL, so I understand the frustration there.
And I think that may be an area that DOI can also look into.
It's a very important area, of course.
That's what I was trying to hint at, so I appreciate that you have that interest in addition.