Hi all,
The City of Crete received a FOIA request from American Transparency asking the City to create an electronic file (which is already problematic to me since it is asking the City to create a document that is not currently in existence) providing the 2023 calendar year's list of employees, hire date (I question if this is routine directory information), base salary amount, bonus amount, overtime amount, gross annual wage, and position title.
Under the new FOIA law, this organization, which is not a resident of the state of Nebraska, nor do they present themselves as news media, is asking for a waiver of fees since the request is "not principally for personal or commercial benefit." It is a 501(c)(3) organization, but their fundraising hinges on publishing salary information of government employees as a watch dog organization for the public. They publish this information online but require an account after 4 searches, which shows some limitations on their end to providing the information to the public.
Has anyone encountered enforcement of this FOIA waiver?
Thank you,
Anna J. Burge, City Attorney
City of Crete 243 East 13th Street, Crete, NE 68333
Office: 402-826-4312 E-mail: anna.burge@crete.ne.gov
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