How should an Open Records Officer deal with a request for third party documents?
Around the state, Open Records Officers (“ORO”) are receiving requests for third party documents. For example, a competitor of a home contractor filed a request for blueprints that were submitted to a township through a building permit application. See Maller v. West Manheim Township, AP 2009-0498 (OOR, July 17, 2009). These types of requests are the result of provisions of the new Right-to-Know Law (“RTKL”) which are designed to increase the transparency of government operations…
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