STAFF at Robe District Council have already spent 20 hours collating information in response to a formal request from a former mayor.
William Peden recently lodged a Freedom of Information request with respect to council’s lease of its Sea Vu Caravan Park at Robe.
In response, council chief executive Roger Sweetman has stated Mr Peden has received 187 pages of documentation
Mr Sweetman has provided a written report which will be tabled at the November monthly council meeting tonight.
He said council can charge a fee of $33.50 for providing the information.
“The Freedom of Information Act however does give the Robe District Council the power to refuse to comply with the request or refuse to provide the information required with the legislated 30 days if the provision of the information will, if carried out, substantially and unreasonably divert the council’s resources in the exercise of its functions,” Mr Sweetman said.
“Robe District Council also has the power to, if the cost of dealing with the application is likely to exceed the amount of the application fee of $33.50, request the applicant pay a reasonable amount by way of an advance deposit.”
Mr Sweetman said the majority of the information provided was either an existing public document or had been provided to Mr Peden previously.
“If it appears that Mr Peden continues to use the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act to conduct future ‘fishing expeditions’ the Freedom of Information Act contains provisions which prevent the abuse of the legislation and in the future they may be imposed.”
Mr Peden frequently writes to Robe District Council and it adopted a special policy earlier this year to deal with his correspondence.
The South Eastern Times approached Mr Peden for comment and he said he was dissatisfied with Mr Sweetman’s response to his FOI request.
Mr Peden has sent a formal request to State Ombudsman Wayne Lines for an external review and has widely circulated this correspondence.
“There are implications for potentially millions of dollars for Robe Council and obviously many ratepayer and others are keenly interested,” Mr Peden wrote to Mr Lines.
In response, Mr Sweetman has told this newspaper that he believes council has fulfilled all of its FOI obligations and he rejects the assertions made about the financial implications.
Tonight’s agenda also features copies of Mr Peden’s correspondence relating to the closure of The Esplanade at Long Beach due to an unstable road surface.
