Under Sec. 80 of FIPPA, the head of each municipal government must appoint an access and privacy officer who is responsible for the overall management of access to information and protection of privacy within the organization. The access and privacy officer makes the final decisions for the municipality related to disclosing information under FIPPA. The officer is also responsible for making sure the municipality manages personal information in accordance with the legislation.

Sec. 2 of the Access and Privacy Regulation under FIPPA also requires a public body such as a municipality to appoint an access and privacy coordinator to handle the day-to-day administration of the legislation. The coordinator is responsible for assisting members of the public to clearly identify the information they need and to complete a FIPPA application if necessary. This process involves:

• locating the requested records and preparing the information for the applicant
• tracking the response process to make sure the legislative timelines are met
• estimating and collecting fees if necessary

Subsection 263(1) of The Municipal Act, and other legislation, sets out the municipal records that the chief administrative officer must, on request of a person, provide access to. FIPPA takes this further by providing a broader right to access municipal records, though this right still has exceptions. FIPPA also regulates the way municipal governments handle personal information.

Under FIPPA, a record is defined very broadly as recorded information in any form.

FIPPA covers all written records in the custody or under the control of the municipality, including minutes, agendas, letters, memos, reports and notes. It applies to information stored or maintained electronically, as well as to photographs, maps, plans, audio and visual recordings. Records that are in off-site storage or have been transferred to an archive for preservation are considered to be under the control of the municipality and may be accessible under FIPPA.

When someone asks to see any of the records identified in Sec. 263 of The Municipal Act, these should be provided routinely and within a reasonable period of time (immediately whenever possible).

While The Municipal Act also says that other information may be made available if council allows it, council does not have the ability to withhold information that should be disclosed under FIPPA.

The municipality's access and privacy officer should make the decisions about disclosing information under FIPPA. Presenting each FIPPA request for access to information not covered under Sec. 263 of The Municipal Act to council may make it difficult to provide timely responses and may be difficult to justify if someone complains to the ombudsman.

In the interests of good service, the municipality will want to respond to requests for information in a timely and informal manner whenever it is possible to do so.

For instance, a copy of a report or a letter that has gone to council during a recent public meeting should be readily available once the photocopying fee has been paid. Effective Jan. 11, 2011, the access to information application process does not apply to information that is available to the public.

The municipality should ask the person to complete a FIPPA application when it is clear that locating the information and figuring out whether it can be disclosed will take some time. This will give the municipality an opportunity to prepare an estimate of fees for search and preparation of the records and to formally use the exceptions in FIPPA to deny access if this is appropriate.

We recommend that the municipality communicate with the applicant to make sure they have not asked for more than they need. For instance, an applicant who requests access to all files about drainage construction projects in the municipality over the last ten years may only be interested in projects on the street where they live. Similarly, when an applicant becomes aware that the amount of information that could be disclosed from a personnel competition file would be very minimal, they may reconsider the application.

A person writing to council or a municipality's administration should expect that the letter, including their personal information (name and address), might be disclosed at a council meeting because of the public nature of council and committee meetings

This also means that if a copy of the letter is requested by a third party, for instance the media, the letter including the personal information will be disclosed.

To let the public know about this procedure, the municipality should place notices in its brochures, on its website, or in any publication that may be referred to when looking up contact information for the municipality or council.

Occasionally, municipalities may receive letters containing sensitive information, such as vacation plans, details about a home's security system or information that could negatively impact on a future sale of personal property. If it is not clear that the person knew the information would be made public, the municipality should contact the writer to explain the situation.

If the writer requests it, and if it would not otherwise jeopardize the intent of the letter, the municipality could sever the sensitive information. Alternatively, the municipality could ask the writer to resubmit the letter without the sensitive information.

A letter that relates to a matter that would normally be discussed in-camera, under Subsection 152(3)(b) of The Municipal Act, would be referred to the closed portion of the council meeting. In this case, the letter would not be distributed as part of the public agenda package.

Subsection 152(3) of The Municipal Act authorizes a council and its committees to close a meeting to the public if the matter to be discussed relates to municipal assistance, employee matters, preliminary policy, legal, by-law enforcement or security matters, or a report of the ombudsman.

Subsection 152(3) of The Municipal Act authorizes a council and its committees to close a meeting to the public if the matter to be discussed relates to municipal assistance, employee matters, preliminary policy, legal, by-law enforcement or security matters, or a report of the ombudsman.

Caution is needed in these cases. For instance, in the case of a FIPPA application for a letter about a by-law enforcement complaint, the municipality would want to sever not only the personal information of the complainant, but also any information that could reveal their identity and potentially expose them to harm.

If the handwriting or the language the writer uses could identify the complainant, the municipality would have grounds to withhold the entire letter (Subsection 17(2)(c ) of FIPPA).

Once council has authorized the accounts, information about the vendor or person the municipality has written a cheque to, and the cheque amount can be disclosed. The municipal cheque register is the document that offers the best summary of this information.

All information in the cheque register is public. Municipalities will typically disclose a cheque register with just the payment amounts.

In a situation where a person would want to review the actual invoices in support of the accounts, these should also be disclosed on request, once the accounts are approved by Council. Personal information, such as home addresses and phone numbers (if different from the business address), would not be disclosed.

A record made by or for an elected official of a local public body related to ward matters is not accessible under FIPPA (Subsection 4(f)). This exclusion is intended to cover:

• records, such as private correspondence (letters) of an elected official, that were not sent or received by the official in their role as a council member, but which may have been maintained in their office for convenience
• records related to the election campaign of a council member, other than those records required to be submitted to the authority governing the election
• records related to the private business activities of a council member

Records dealing with the business of the municipality are governed by FIPPA, even if they are stored at a councillor's home.

Subsection 2(1) of The Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act says that municipalities must disclose the amount paid to any member of council or any employee whose total compensation is more than $75,000. Compensation includes the total amount of all cash and non-cash salary or payments, allowances, bonuses and commissions.

Subsection 17(4)(e) of FIPPA states that disclosure of an employee's or elected official's job classification, salary range, benefits, employment responsibilities or travel expenses is not unreasonable.

Currently, most employee salaries and council indemnities (payments) are established by by-law. Because by-laws are usually available to the public, salary information for members of council and employees has been public for some time. For those municipalities that do not adopt by-laws stating the salary rates of individual employees, FIPPA only says that the salary range must be made public,

e.g.:
John Smith, Equipment Operator 1
Salary Range:

• $12.45 at Step 1
• $12.95 at Step 2
• $13.45 at Step 3
• $13.95 at Step 4

Yes, under Subsection 17(4)(e) of FIPPA, disclosing travel expenses or per diem rates for an elected official or an employee is not an unreasonable invasion of privacy.

The records should be severed to make sure, for example, that the employee's credit card number or home address and telephone number is not made public.

Subsection 44(1)(f) of FIPPA states that personal information can be disclosed to an elected official if the information is needed to carry out their responsibilities.

For example, in a municipality with a small number of employees, council may need to receive information on individual employee salaries and benefits as part of the budget process. This does not mean that individual members of council are entitled to come into the office and request to see personal information, such as personnel files. Any of these kinds of requests should be related to council responsibilities and authorized by council through resolution or policy.

In larger municipalities, budget decisions are typically made using summarized information, e.g. total amount of payroll or breakdown of costs for specific benefits. Personal information, in these circumstances, is not attached to the financial data.

In larger municipalities, budget decisions are typically made using summarized information, e.g. total amount of payroll or breakdown of costs for specific benefits. Personal information, in these circumstances, is not attached to the financial data.

It is difficult to imagine a situation when council members would need to know the home address of an employee, though contact information for the chief administrative officer and other senior employees will be needed in the case of a municipal emergency.

Yes. Subsection 44(1)(e) of FIPPA allows for disclosure of personal information when this is authorized by other legislation (in this case, The Municipal Act).

The purpose of providing the assessment roll is to enable property owners to compare their assessments with those for similar or nearby properties.

No. Subsection 44(1) of FIPPA sets out the conditions under which personal information can be disclosed.

Personal information on the assessment roll is collected for taxation purposes under provisions of The Municipal Assessment Act. It is not collected to provide a tracing service for organizations that may have private business with municipal taxpayers.

Yes. There are circumstances where disclosure of personal information (usually to other public bodies) for specific purposes is allowed. These are set out in subsection 44(1) of FIPPA.

Some examples of circumstances where disclosure is allowed are for:

• law enforcement purposes or crime prevention
• figuring out the amount of or collecting fines, debts or taxes
• enforcing a maintenance order under The Family Maintenance Act
• figuring out or verifying a person's suitability or eligibility for a program, service or benefit
• contacting a relative or friend of a person who is injured or ill

None of these items is considered personal information and therefore they can be disclosed.

Section 341(1) of The Municipal Act states that a tax certificate must be issued on request and payment of a fee. The tax certificate provides information about taxes payable for the year and any amount that has been paid, tax arrears owing, and whether the lands are assessed for farming purposes.

Some municipalities may have a policy that tax information will only be released through issuing a tax certificate. This practice does not need to change under FIPPA.

Other municipalities may have a practice of providing tax information over the phone or at the counter. Again, this does not need to be changed under FIPPA, with the exception of giving property owner names (see below and see the following question).

Subsection 42(2) of FIPPA states that the disclosure of personal information must be limited to the minimum amount necessary to accomplish the purpose it is disclosed for. Because property owner names are not related to property tax information, names should not be disclosed.

No. Although Section 263 of The Municipal Act gives the public the right to access the assessment roll, it does not give municipalities the authority to sell or give property owners' names and mailing addresses in bulk.

Yes. FIPPA authorizes release of personal information when the information is collected to perform a statutory duty or to operate an authorized program of the public body.

Because providing emergency services and installing utilities are among the responsibilities of a municipality, this information can be released to municipal or municipally-related departments.

In 2000, the Rural Municipalities of Hanover and Armstrong applied to the Privacy Assessment Review Committee (PARC)*, established under section 77 of FIPPA, for advice about selling municipal maps to the general public that contain names of landowners and/or leaseholders.

The PARC concluded that there is a public interest in making property ownership maps available for the public to buy. It recommended that if the municipality is going to sell these maps to the public, property owners and lease holders should be told about their right to request that their names not be published.

This could be done by enclosing a notice with the tax notice, taking out ads in community newspapers or releasing a public notice.

* Note: Section 77 of FIPPA, which allowed the minister responsible to establish PARC, was repealed effective January 1, 2011.

Applications:

Application files may contain:

• statements and/or reports from provincial government departments, utility companies or other agencies that the application was referred to
• technical reports prepared by or for the applicant, including groundwater evaluation and soil suitability for private sewage disposal systems
• specialty engineering or design reports and property appraisal reports
  These records may be released in accordance with any policies of the municipality.

Minutes of Proceedings:

Minutes of Proceedings:

Municipalities can follow their regular practice, as established in policy, concerning this information.

Section 17(4)(g) of FIPPA states that disclosing the personal information would not be unreasonable if the information relates to granting a license or permit.

In the spirit of releasing only as much information as necessary, the municipality would release the name of the permit or license holder, and the nature of the permit or license. This would likely include all the information related to what the permit allows the permit holder to do. For example, it would include the location of the work site, the kind of structure, its size, value of the project or the matter of a business license, the name and location of the business.

It would not include other personal information of the permit holder, such as a home phone number or home address if these are different than the location of the work site or business.

Sec. 26 of FIPPA states that if disclosure could reasonably be expected to harm or threaten the security of any property or system, including a building, information may be withheld.

Clearly, a property owner should be given access to the plans of their own building, as well as anyone else, such as a contractor, whom the property owner has authorized to view them.

If the building plans do not provide for a security system, disclosure should not be a problem.

Yes. A list of bidders for a municipal project, including the amount of the tenders, should be routinely available on request as part of an open tendering process. A FIPPA application should not be needed.

Possibly. Copies of contracts may be disclosed after they have been awarded, on the premise that the public has the right to know who has been engaged to do the work for the municipality and how much is being paid for the work.

Some information in the contract or supporting documents must be withheld under subsection 18(1) of FIPPA, including proprietary information, such as trade secrets, confidential financial or labour relations information of the company, or any information that could harm the competitive position or negotiating position of the company.

If the municipality believes that the information should be released, subsection 33(1) of FIPPA states that the municipality must communicate with the third party (the contractor) to get permission for disclosure or to review areas of concern about the possible release of information.

If the municipality can demonstrate that disclosing the information would harm the economic interests or undermine the future negotiating position of the municipality, it may also withhold information about a contract under FIPPA subsection 28 (1).

When personal information is collected directly from an individual (e.g. applications for building permits, business licenses or culverts), Subsection 37(2) of FIPPA states that the municipality must tell the individual what the purpose is for collecting the information, the legal authority, and contact information if the individual has a question.

If it would be expensive to replace forms that are currently being used by the municipality, a stamp maybe produced with the required information.

Yes. Sec. 82 of FIPPA and Secs. 4 to 9 of the Access and Privacy Regulation establish when fees can be charged and what the amounts of those fees are.

Subsection 263(3) of The Municipal Act states that a municipality can, through a by-law, set any fees it needs to be paid for access to information, as long as they don't exceed the fees provided for in the Access and Privacy Regulation.

Subsection 5(2) of the Access and Privacy Regulation states that no fee can be charged if the total copying fee for an applicant's personal information is less than $10.

Subsection 5(2) of the Access and Privacy Regulation states that no fee can be charged if the total copying fee for an applicant's personal information is less than $10.

If the fee is more than $10, and the applicant makes a request for a fee waiver, waiving of all fees can be considered under subsection 9(1)(b) of the Access and Privacy Regulation.

Copying fees can be charged according to Subsection 5(1) of the Access and Privacy Regulation or the municipal by-law.

An applicant must pay a search and preparation fee of $15 for each half-hour when the municipality estimates that searching and preparing the requested records will take more than two hours.

Search and preparation includes time spent finding the requested information and severing copies of the document(s) as needed. The municipality cannot charge for time spent preparing the fee estimate, copying a record, or reviewing a record to figure out which exceptions to access apply, including time spent in discussion and decision-making (subsection 4(3)(a to e) Access and Privacy Regulation).

Under subsection 9(1) of the Access and Privacy Regulation, an applicant can request that all or part of the fees be waived. The municipality can grant a waiver if the fee would impose an unreasonable financial hardship on the applicant or if the record relates to a matter of public health, safety or the environment.

No. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency does not need municipalities to collect GST on fees paid for handling FIPPA requests.