Newspapers appeal county charges for public defender's office timesheets

Yahoo

29-03-2025

An attorney representing the Niagara Gazette and Lockport Union-Sun & Journal has filed an appeal in response to Niagara County's attempt to charge hundreds of dollars for providing copies of public employee timesheets the newspapers requested in electronic form as part of a Freedom of Information Law request.
In a request dated Feb. 10, 2025, the newspapers sought copies of timesheets submitted by attorneys working for the Niagara County Public Defender's office between Jan. 1, 2023, and Feb. 10, 2025.
The county responded on March 14, indicating that it had identified 1,129 pages as potentially responsive while suggesting it took 'extensive time' to sort through the documents given the 'level and scope' of the request.
The county's response, signed by Human Resources Director Peter Lopes, contends that complying with the newspapers' request would require the county to scan the timesheets so they can be redacted before they can be sent digitally. Lopes' letter asserts the cost for the process would be 25 cents per page or a total of $282.25.
However, the letter also indicates that the county intends to charge the newspapers a higher amount — $356.83 in total — due to the cost involved for the county employees assigned to do the work.
According to Lopes, the added personnel cost involves charges for two and a half hours of work at a rate of $49.72 per hour that one county employee already put into the task as well as two hours of work from another county employee who earns $40.17 per hour.
In addition, Lopes claims the records in question would have to be scanned and attached to an email for each pay period covered under the FOIL request, which equals 56 in total.
'An additional three hours is expected to accomplish that,' Lopes wrote in his letter.
In its response, the county indicated that copies of the timesheets would not be made until payment was received and that the fees 'will not be waived.'
The letter does extend an offer to the newspapers to accept a less expensive option — an in-person inspection of physical copies of the redacted timesheets by a reporter who would need to be accompanied by an assigned county employee.
Lopes' letter indicates that the cost for that option would be $282.25 while suggesting a reporter from the newspaper would not be able to take pictures of any documents during the in-person inspection and that any copies requested would cost 25 cents per page.
'An employee will sit with you while you inspect the records,' Lopes wrote. 'If time exceeds 120 minutes, you will be charged for that employee's time at their hourly rate.'
The county confirmed, in response to a question from the newspapers, that the employee who would be assigned to oversee the inspection of the records would be Joseph Provino, a Niagara County labor relations manager who would 'witness and observe' a reporter's 'reviewing of the documents' at an hourly rate of $49.79.
'This cost would, of course, be in addition to the previous costs mentioned to you in Mr. Lopes' response to you,' Lopes' confidential assistant Carla Fatau said in an emailed response to the newspapers' question.
Municipal governments are allowed, under limited circumstances prescribed by law, to redact — or black out — pieces of sensitive information, such as employee Social Security numbers, before releasing public documents.
New York's FOI Law allows public agencies to charge 25 cents per page for records up to 9 inches by 14 inches and the actual cost of reproduction for larger or color copies. Electronic formats are generally provided at no charge if available. If records are provided on CD, DVD, or other digital media, public agencies may attach a fee for the cost of the media itself, however, they cannot charge for the cost of employee time to prepare the records and cannot charge for employee time spent searching, reviewing, or redacting records, unless the request involves records larger than 9-inches by 14-inches.
COSTS DISPUTED
Paul Wolf, a Williamsville attorney who founded the New York Coalition for Open Government, a non-profit organization that advocates for transparency and openness in government statewide, summed up the county's response to the newspapers' FOIL request for copies of public employee timesheets in one word: 'Absurd.'
Michael Higgins, an attorney with the law firm Ernstrom & Dreste in Rochester, filed the appeal on behalf of the newspapers. In the appeal, sent to Niagara County Legislature Chairwoman Rebecca Wydysh, R-Lewiston, Higgins noted that the county has no legal right under state law to charge by the page for copies of documents requested in electronic form, adding that the county's 'purported inability to scan documents without making physical copies stretches the bounds of credulity.'
'Every modern office, including Niagara County, has the ability to scan existing paper records, to convert electronic records into pdfs, and to electronically redact,' Higgins wrote. 'Even if Niagara County has no licenses for the most common pdf software with this capability, there are several free tools available online that will redact pdfs including pdf-redaction.com, and smallpdf.com/redact-pdf.'
Higgins also asserts that the county's attempt to charge fees for administrative time to prepare photocopies of records is prohibited under New York State Public Officers Law. His letter asserts that it is 'improper' to charge the newspapers to allow a reporter to inspect records and to have those records redacted.
'Niagara County's attempts to charge for prohibited items and to unnecessarily copy documents to induce a charge is a transparent attempt to frustrate (the newspapers') FOIL request and avoid its obligations under the Freedom of Information Law,' Higgins wrote.
LAW FIRM PROBE
The newspapers sought copies of the timesheets in the wake of the legislature's Jan. 22 decision to require the top two attorneys in the public defender's office — Nick Robinson and Vince Sandonato — to resign from their jobs as chief public defender and first deputy public defender, respectively.
The decision followed a closed-door session of the legislature where county lawmakers were briefed on the findings of an investigation of the public defender's office by the private law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King. The county hired the firm to conduct the review in response to a complaint filed by a female attorney working for the public defender's office. Both attorneys were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
County officials have refused to disclose any details of the investigation or the findings of the law firm's probe. The county has also denied the newspapers' request for copies of any work product produced over the course of the roughly two-month investigation, which cost county taxpayers $23,192 in legal expenses.
While Robinson complied with the legislature's mandate that he resign effective Feb. 3, Sandonato remains employed by the county, albeit in a different role. Weeks after requesting that he resign as a public defender, the legislature agreed to hire Sandonato as the county's Medicaid fraud specialist. The full-time job pays $115,000 per year, down from Sandonato's previous salary with the public defender's office of $150,000.