This post is a follow-up to my post of December 8th, where I documented my Freedom of Information Act Request to the Lake George Park Commission as it applies to Executive Order 17.
After I posted the Lake George Park Commission’s original reply to my FOIL request, I received a second unsolicited response today.
To recap my request, I asked for a copy of the report which was mandated by Executive Order 17 of all state agencies by December 1st:
“On or before December 1, 2009, each state agency shall review its regulations and report to the Secretary to the Governor …… on any proposed changes to regulations which could reduce the impact of existing mandates on local governments and generate property tax relief for New York State property taxpayers.”
The LGPC had originally replied that:
“The report of the Lake George Park Commission to the Secretary to the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. 17 is not completed and is expected to be available in 21 days.”
Today, Michelle Way, the FOIL officer at the LGPC, provided another answer:
“After I originally replied to your request I realized that Item No. 1 in your request does not exist.”
Perhaps it does not presently exist as the original response alluded to, but one would think that a mandate from the Governor as described in an Executive Order which required a “report” to be submitted by December 1st, would mean that a state agency like the LGPC would be able to generate a report by the “due” date. One would think that an Executive Agency would care about rising property taxes as much as the Governor claims to.
In regards to my second request, Executive Order 17 also requires that any proposed mandate which is offered by a state agency must be accompanied by a fiscal impact statement which estimates the costs to local governments. I also requested the information submitted to the Governor’s office as it pertained to the proposed stream corridor regulations. The Lake George Park Commission originally responded that this information was exempt from being released to the public.
“Information submitted to the Governor’s Secretary in regards to the Stream Corridor Regulations are intra-agency drafts which do not represent a final agency policy or position.”
Today, Ms. Way, provided this answer:
“As for Item No. 2 the documents are being prepared for public disclosure and publication. Access at this time is denied because the documents are currently inter-agency materials which are not final agency policy or determinations. When adopted by the Commission, the documents will be posted on the agency website www.lgpc.state.ny.us.”
One can only wonder how one FOIL request can be met with so many answers and no documents?