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A Friday, Feb. 5th board fact sheet, prepared by board communicaâ€" tions officer Brian Woodland and FOI coâ€"ordinator/office of the director Peter Gnish, summarized the board‘s 1991 to 1993 FOI requests. That put the Halton board at the top of the 1991 provincial average when the average request per board was 1.8 and Halton‘s number was 79, said the report. A total 270 requests were made â€" 79 in 1991, 168 in 1992 and 23 so far in 1993. It also said 97.2% of the FOI requests came from Oakville with 1.2% from Burlington, 1.2% from outside Halton and 0.4% from north Halton. The report said of the 247 requests over the last two years, 37% dealt with Oakvilleâ€"Trafalgar High School In the article Coons described two years of "harassment" by a small group of Oakville residents still upset about the construction of the new Oakvilleâ€"Trafalgar High School and said the board was being "absolutely inundated" with requests and the costs are "getting totally out of hand." Last Saturday, a Burlington newsâ€" paper documented the number of FOI requests processed by the board since the â€" Municipal â€" Freedom â€" of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FON) became law in 1991 and the attached $107,500 1991â€"1993 boardâ€" The article also named four Oakville persons as those, among 27 requesters, who‘d made most of the requests, according to the board chairâ€" O‘Reilly however saw red when hearing Friday that the board had named him as someone making FOI requests from the board. He said the FOI act didn‘t allow the institution to name persons who‘d made FOI requests and said it could be seen as "a form of intimidation." Oakville resident Joe O‘Reilly was also named by the board. It was O‘Reilly who last year made a comâ€" plaint to Halton Regional Police about the OTHS replacement issue and saw a threeâ€"month investigation reveal police found no grounds to lay crimiâ€" nal charges. "The cost of freedom is never too high," said Reinsborough adding she doesn‘t mind releasing or sharing information however no one at the board asked her to release her name and she believes the FOI Act grants her the right to privacy. "They lumped me in with the OTHS issue and I‘m not OTHS," said Reinsborough who by Tuesday was filing a request for disciplinary action against the board with Ontario‘s Information and Privacy Commissioner Thomas Wright. Reinsborough said she didn‘t believe the FOI act was "harassment for those who have nothing to hide." However Reinsborough took offence saying her "issue" isn‘t OTHS. The Oakville computer comâ€" pany operator has been complaining the ACT Centres are undercutting her business. Asked why Arleen Reinsborough, who has questioned and requested information about the board‘s ACT (Adult Computer Training) Centres, was named among the four, Coons again said, ‘"She named herself." "I challenge them to prove the frivolity of my requests by publishing the contents of my requests. There‘s nothing frivolous about them," said Nielsen. The board is soon to receive, and begin debate on, a proposed 1993 expenditure budget that was forecast at close to $300 million. "They‘re trying to deflect everyone from the reality of their budget," said Neilsen. "OT is put to bed and Key Communicators is dormant in my view," said Coons. Oakville resident and OTHS reloâ€" Cation opponent Elaine Nielsen said she wasn‘t "upset" but called the board actions as reported "typically silly and childish," and said "This is what taxpayers are paying for." "And they are, in my view," he said, noting most dealt with two issues, OTHS and the Key Communicators. Requests called ‘frivolous Coons also stood by the descripâ€" tion that in his view" 75% of the FOI requests were "utterly frivolous." (Continued from page 1) reported as making FOI requests from the board. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 338â€"9765 February Visit Us At The Oakville Place "Home Designer Show" Feb. 10thâ€"1 4h 10. 199 If it was shown that such a contraâ€" vention was made, and done so willâ€" fully, an offence would have occurred and the offender would be subject to a fine not exceeding $5,000, the offence prosecuted outside the Information and Privacy Commission and only upon consent of the Ontario Attorneyâ€" General. Hawthomne said a compliance offiâ€" cer has already requested that Hawthorne release her name so the commission can discuss her complaint with the board. Pierotti said Section 48(1)(a) of the Municipal Act which would apply in such an instance, sets out that "No person shall willfully disclose personâ€" al information in contravention of this act‘. The resident said the act guaran tees "impartiality, impunity and confi dentiality". "Our office can‘t comment on whether, in this situation, the Halton Board did the right thing. We can only comment if we receive a complaint," said June Pierotti, a senior communiâ€" cations officer with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Monday. Oakville resident and OTHS opponent Marianne Hawthorne, who was also named, filed a complaint with the Information and Privacy Commission‘s Compliance Office as soon as she saw the Saturday article. and 33% dealt solely or in part with Key Communicators, another board controversy. The rest were about "financial and personal information and other information of a general nature." "This is the second time officials Located at Trafalgar Rd. & Q.E.W. + 842â€"2140 Store Hours Cutmore said perhaps more good could come from looking at the reason why people are using FOI rather than the fact they are using it and quesâ€" tioned why residents shouldn‘t be questioning the accountability of school boards and trustees. "It seems to me if there was less of a closed shop on public information there would be (fewer) inquiries by FOI and consequently less expense," said Cutmore, an Oakville resident and former public school trustee. The board report also listed "excessive" requests including one for all materials related to travel, conferâ€" ence and meeting expenses for all staff over three vears. "It‘s my feeling that as a chamber, we already have an ongoing concern about the board‘s delegation byâ€"law which identifies an accessâ€"toâ€"theâ€" board problem," said Cutmore, who has appeared at the board on numerâ€" ous occasions calling for changes. In its report on FOI requests the board exampled those obtained withâ€" out the need to use FOI including audio tape of board meeting, a high school‘s enrolment statistics, copies of specific board policies and the board‘s financial statement. from the Halton Board of Education have been complaining about the use of the FOI Act. 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