PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Legal Newsline) - Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin recently filed a complaint against the Nasonville Fire District over allegations that it violated the state's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) by not responding to an open records request in a timely manner.
The Nasonville Fire District allegedly didn’t respond to a request for tapes and meeting minutes made by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 4968 within the required 10-day time allotment. The IAFF made the request on Jan. 15, 2014.
After the IAFF filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office on April 14, Kilmartin asked the fire district to provide a reason for the delay to find out whether it was willfully ignoring the request.
The attorney general ultimately found that the district violated the request on purpose.
"As noted in our supplemental finding, the fault for failing to respond to an APRA request lies with the public body, not the individual requests are delegated to," Kilmartin said.
The Nasonville Fire District could be fined up to $2,000 for not fulfilling the public records request in a timely manner.