A Summerland man has filed to have a Freedom of Information decision overturned.
The decision by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, dated Feb. 29, found 10 recent requests from one respondent were 鈥渟ystematic鈥� and 鈥渆xcessively broad,鈥� and that responding to them would interfere unreasonably with the Municipality of Summerland鈥檚 operations.
In addition, for the next three years, the respondent and his family may make only one Freedom of Information request at a time.
Over the past three years, the municipality received 79 Freedom of Information requests from the individual, including 18 made by family members. The adjudication stated that many of these had been multiple requests put into one.
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Nine of the 10 requests would have generated 46,791 pages of records and three video files. The number of pages for the tenth request was not calculated.
Brad Besler, who was the subject of the decision, although he is not named in the official decision, has filed an appeal.
In the appeal, he asks that the Feb. 29 decision be set aside, that a declaration be made that his family members were denied their right to procedural fairness and a declaration that the adjudication is ineligible to act as an adjudicator in any matters concerning Besler or his family members鈥檚 Freedom of Information access files or inquiries.
Besler鈥檚 appeal, at 23 pages, is longer than the decision from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
Besler claims the adjudicator showed bias in favour of the municipality when making her decision.
鈥淭he adjudicator relied on her own opinions, assumptions, bias, speculation and conjecture, rather than considering and interpreting the evidence that was on the record in the inquiry. The adjudicator failed to consider relevant factors, evidence and submissions,鈥� the appeal reads.
In his appeal statement, he describes himself as 鈥渁 long-time Summerland resident who has become known as a community watchdog regarding local issues, including with regards to local government.鈥�
In 2022, Besler ran for a seat on Summerland鈥檚 municipal council. He finished 11th out of 13 candidates, receiving 762 of the ballots cast.
In recent years, Summerland municipal staff have been facing a growing number of Freedom of Information requests, with many coming from one individual alone.
In September 2023, Kendra Kinsley, corporate officer for the municipality, said the requests are time-consuming and in some cases, work on a single file can take 100 hours of municipal staff time.
She said each work on a document must be reviewed in context before the information may be released to the public.
She added that the volume of Freedom of Information requests in 2023 would provide enough work for two full-time staff members. The cost of these positions would be around $200,000, including wages and benefits. A tax increase of one per cent would add a little more than $100,000 to the municipality鈥檚 funds.
There has yet to be a response to Besler鈥檚 appeal.
