KINGSTON, N.Y. — The city’s assistant corporation counsel said a new process for filing requests for information is merely a request and that the city will continue to accept Freedom of Information Law requests by email as required by state law.
On Monday, in an email response to an information request by the Freeman last week, City Clerk Elisa Tinti wrote that the city would “no longer accept FOIL requests via email,” and laid out a complicated and cumbersome process for filing information requests.
Kristin O’Neil, the deputy director and counsel for the Committee on Open Government, said the city can’t refuse email requests for information.
“There’s a provision in the statute that requires them to accept email requests,” O’Neil said.
Assistant Corporation Counsel Matthew Jankowski ag