A new report going to LaSalle council Tuesday shows freedom of information requests are rising and taking more time to process.
There were 31 requests last year, up from 19 the year before, with many involving large volumes of records and third-party consultation.
Most resulted in partial disclosure, meaning some portions were redacted, and staff say each request can take hours to complete.
Mayor Crystal Meloche says the increase isn’t surprising.
“I think everyone’s experiencing this. Across the sector is a lot more information being requested by residents and third parties,” she said. “A lot of it has to do sometimes with neighbourly incidents or permits that were granted, and information like that.”
Council asked for the report last month to better understand where time is being spent and how it may impact other municipal work.
Meloche says the workload behind each file is significant.
“Every single one you get is extremely time consuming and there are very tight deadlines that are put on FOI requests, so it does use a lot of our staff time to be able to prepare these reports and sit submit the information as required, in the time required,” she said.
She said the pace this year is already raising concerns.
“Twelve so far this year does seem high given that we’re only in in May, so hopefully they’re maybe with certain projects that are being done in the town or other information,” said Meloche.
A full breakdown of the report will be presented to LaSalle council at Tuesday’s meeting.