FOIA Friday: An introduction

The Michigan Freedom of Information Act spells out the requirements for all "public bodies" in the state to disclose records to the public. It describes which organizations are subject to FOIA law, which records are open to disclosure, and which records are not required to be disclosed. It also spells out what fees can be charged and what time public bodies have to comply with requests, and how a denial in part or whole of a request can be appealed.

Reporters, as a rule, know how FOIA works, as a part of their jobs. Government officials sometimes understand FOIA law, but sometimes don't really understand it, and sometimes they reject perfectly reasonable requests for information. And lots of people wish they knew more about the workings of the organizations that spend their tax dollars.

I'm going to post something Fridays to give an update on some of AnnArbor.com's FOIA efforts. Some of these are stories in progress, some are requests that might not generate a story, and some are broader issues of access to government information and the process of getting details. Here's a brief run down on an agency by agency basis of FOIA requests, current and past.

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The outstanding request that I have from the AATA is for records pertaining to times and dates that the buses run so full that they drive past passengers waiting at a stop. A previous request was fulfilled for comments from the public on the end of Link bus service.

City of Ann Arbor. We ask all the time for records from the city; one recent document I've been looking at is copies of inspection reports for the East Stadium bridges from Feb. 19, 2009, and I've asked for an update of the latest correspondence with the engineering firm on that topic.

There's more than this, of course. If you have something you wish you knew from a public body, and it's not published on their Web site, you as a citizen have the right to know within the bounds of the law.

Edward Vielmetti is the blogging leader at AnnArbor.com. Contact him at edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.