Daily Archives: July 31, 2012

Request for DEP records specific enough

Published on

The Commonwealth Court ruled that a request for records under the Right to Know Law (“RTKL”) is sufficiently specific if it requests a “clearly-defined universe of documents,” regardless of how many documents that universe may contain. The court also ruled that any agency receiving a request for records under the RTKL must undertake a physical search for the requested records.

Fact-finding meetings can be held in private

Published on

The Commonwealth Court held that meetings of a quorum of township supervisors can be held in private if they are fact-finding in nature, even if the meetings were designed to allow the supervisors to gather information to make a decision at a later date.
The court suggested that the only meetings that must be open to the public are meetings where official action is taken or a specific proposal or petition is discussed.