Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sawmill - lack of information

When the public meeting was scheduled to be held for public comment
about the Amasa sawmill project I submitted an FOIA to the Economic
Development Corporation asking for specific information. I received,
in return, a denial that any documents containing the requested
information existed. Of course such documents and records as existed
were withheld, but the real point of the exercise was to demonstrate
that the pretext of the meeting asking for public comment was a sham
(stated differently that is to say, "business as usual in Iron
County."

What follows was the followup letter I sent to the EDC after the fact.
Attorney Tinti has given the county some misleading closing verbiage
for their FOIA responses. In the original form he stated that the
total compensation that could be awarded n the event of a judicial
review favoring the plaintiff (the person who made a request that was
later denied) was $500 including attorney's fees and expenses.
Subsequently it was corrected.

In his highly personal diatribe against me on his web page, Yahoo
Groups "IronCountyIndependent" John Facin included Tinti as one of the
individuals I had insulted. Got news for you John, any licensed
attorney who can't copy information that's repeated in the statute as
well as published Attorney General opinions deserves to be insulted so
I hope that he did take insult. The man took public funds to give
advice to the county that was just plain wrong, and that deserves
criticism.


==================================================================

FROM:
William J. Vajk
P.O. Box
Stambaugh MI 49964
18 September 2007

TO:
Iron County Economic Development Corp.
2 S 6th Street
Crystal Falls MI 49920

REF: Your reply of 16 Sept 2007 to my FOIA request dated 10 Sept 2007 and
The cover page article "Veterans office open…." in the Iron County
Reporter dated 19 September 2007

Dear Mrs. Melchiori:

Thank you for your reply. Since it has provided one of the two
alternative sets of answers I sought I do not consider it a denial in
the sense you apparently intended despite the fact that you failed to
include all the FOIA requested "records" because the county attorney
Tinti has advised you incorrectly according the to the referenced
article. The answer you have provided is adequate.

The only conclusion to be drawn from your reply to the referenced FOIA
request is that there is no document or plan which incorporates the
critical elements demanded of any publicly funded project designed to
improve the economic state of Iron County. The date of your reply is 5
days before the public is asked for comment for a bond issue to
subsidize the Amasa sawmill project. It is obvious that the public
will be unable to exercise informed judgment when making any comment
on the proposed bond issue.

I am sorry to have to say that this is not the way a representative
county government is supposed to be run.

There are at least two errors in your reply relating to the
functioning of the Freedom of Information Act which I hope you will
not repeat in response to future FOIA requests. The first is that FOIA
applies to records, not documents. The second is that FOIA permits
$500 in punitive damages not inclusive of attorney fees and other
costs and damages.

Please see Michigan PA 442 of 1977 sections 15.231 through 15.246
inclusive and the Attorney General's summary dated April 13, 1977.


Sincerely,


CC: Iron County Reporter

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