Object to an Open Records Request for grant application materials?
October 16, 2024 11:07 AM Subscribe
I'm a theater/performance maker, and I applied for a grant from my city. I did not receive the grant (which is fine), but I received a notification that someone requested all of the information available from the city relating to the grant (i.e. not just my application materials, but all the records the city has that relate to this grant). What's the best course of action here? Do I need to take any action?
On the one hand, this feels mostly like an emotional reaction: I felt like my application materials, especially since I didn't receive the grant, were sort of confidential within the city organization that needed to evaluate them. I should have known (and honestly, there probably is some language in the grant explaining this) that documents submitted to the city become open records that can be requested by anyone. And I think being able to request these kinds of documents from the city is generally a good thing.
On the other hand, taking a look at the website of the person who submitted the request, it seems like they are probably hoping to use these records to attack the grant itself on some legal grounds. If that's the case, I'd like to make it as difficult as possible for them to get access to these records.
On the third hand, although I think this is incredibly unlikely, there is the potential that access to my grant application for a project that hasn't yet been produced could result in someone using the ideas and methods in my application. If I were a business or potential contractor with the city, it would be a no brainer to object to the release of records that could have a detrimental financial effect on my business, but I think this isn't so cut and dry.
The notification I received does include directions for submitting written arguments objecting to the release of my specific records to the state attorney general. This would seem to be the most direct response, but it also sounds like the objection would need to be written in a specific legalese that would require (I guess?) hiring a lawyer. I would prefer not to hire a lawyer.
I think there are a lot of implied questions here, and I'm happy to get answers to any of them, but my most direct question(s) here are: is this something I should be concerned about, and what's the appropriate/best course of action?
Should I just let it go?
Write an informal email to the city's grant office saying I think my application shouldn't be released?
Attempt to draft a written argument to send to the attorney general on my own
Hire a lawyer?
Something else I haven't thought of?
Thanks everybody!
On the one hand, this feels mostly like an emotional reaction: I felt like my application materials, especially since I didn't receive the grant, were sort of confidential within the city organization that needed to evaluate them. I should have known (and honestly, there probably is some language in the grant explaining this) that documents submitted to the city become open records that can be requested by anyone. And I think being able to request these kinds of documents from the city is generally a good thing.
On the other hand, taking a look at the website of the person who submitted the request, it seems like they are probably hoping to use these records to attack the grant itself on some legal grounds. If that's the case, I'd like to make it as difficult as possible for them to get access to these records.
On the third hand, although I think this is incredibly unlikely, there is the potential that access to my grant application for a project that hasn't yet been produced could result in someone using the ideas and methods in my application. If I were a business or potential contractor with the city, it would be a no brainer to object to the release of records that could have a detrimental financial effect on my business, but I think this isn't so cut and dry.
The notification I received does include directions for submitting written arguments objecting to the release of my specific records to the state attorney general. This would seem to be the most direct response, but it also sounds like the objection would need to be written in a specific legalese that would require (I guess?) hiring a lawyer. I would prefer not to hire a lawyer.
I think there are a lot of implied questions here, and I'm happy to get answers to any of them, but my most direct question(s) here are: is this something I should be concerned about, and what's the appropriate/best course of action?
Should I just let it go?
Write an informal email to the city's grant office saying I think my application shouldn't be released?
Attempt to draft a written argument to send to the attorney general on my own
Hire a lawyer?
Something else I haven't thought of?
Thanks everybody!
Something else I haven't thought of?
perhaps you could make a future performance/theater as a way of thinking through this?
posted by HearHere at 12:05 PM on October 16 [3 favorites]
perhaps you could make a future performance/theater as a way of thinking through this?
posted by HearHere at 12:05 PM on October 16 [3 favorites]
I don't know how your municipal laws and regs work, but if this were a FOIA request to the federal government, your best bet would be either to make the case that it's a trade secret as mentioned above or that the information in your grant application is "commercial or financial, obtained from a person, and privileged or confidential." The DoJ has an explainer, you'd be looking at Exemption 4.
posted by solotoro at 12:10 PM on October 16 [1 favorite]
posted by solotoro at 12:10 PM on October 16 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I work in a different city department and there'd be no harm in contacting us to object, and possible gain if it inspired someone internal to agree with you and reformat your informal arguments into something legally compelling, possibly with assistance from the city attorney. Someone would at least chat with you seriously about the situation and possibly give you additional useful information. Said information might be good news ("we're going to redact basically everything anyway") or bad news ("this person always asks for everything and usually gets it") or just more non-answers/advice to get your own attorney, but, again, it's not like it'd make anything worse to try.
posted by teremala at 12:50 PM on October 16 [6 favorites]
posted by teremala at 12:50 PM on October 16 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks y'all! On teremala's advice, I did send an email to the city department that handles the grants asking for more information. They got back to me super quickly and are planning to submit a written argument objecting specifically to the release of artists' application materials. I presume they will make a better argument than I could, so this is pretty much the best outcome.
Of course, the attorney general could still rule in the requestor's favor, which ultimately, realistically, isn't a huge deal for me personally. Apparently I'll find out in 45 days!
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 3:19 PM on October 16 [5 favorites]
Of course, the attorney general could still rule in the requestor's favor, which ultimately, realistically, isn't a huge deal for me personally. Apparently I'll find out in 45 days!
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 3:19 PM on October 16 [5 favorites]
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Typically, you would have received a disclosure about the possibility of this happening in the grant application materials. It might have been fine print that was overlooked.
posted by mcgsa at 11:55 AM on October 16 [5 favorites]