Response to Freedom of Information Request From Bronx Community Board #2 Chair Dr. Ian Amritt

January 25, 2016

I am writing as the Chairman of Bronx Community Board #2, with respect to the New York State FOI Law (Public Officers Law, Article 6, S.84 et. seq., referred to herein as the “FOIL”), Community Board #2 has received your FOIL request.  

As per the FOIL, we will contact you within the next 20 business days to let you know which documents we are in possession of that are responsive to your request, how to access those documents and whether access has been denied to any documents. 

Sincerely,

Dr, Ian Amritt

Chairman

EDITORS NOTE:

As I suspected the 20 business days would be after the Special Election that the current District Manager of Community Board #2 is involved in. As for which documents the community board is in possession of, should be all six items that were requested for viewing and/or coping were. 

1- Minutes of Community Board #2 full board meetings dated back to January 2011.

2- Minutes of Community Board #2 Executive Board  meetings dated back to January 2011.

3 - Minutes of the Community Board #2 District Service Cabinet Meetings dated back to January 2011

4 - Time Sheets for Community Board #2 staff dating from July 1, 2015 to January 15, 2016.

5 - Any communication from the District Manager Rafael Salamanca as to when he decided to run for elected office in 2015 or 2016.

6 - Any discretionary funding spent by Bronx Community Board #2 dating back to January 2011. 

The above six items should be on hand in a community board office. It is the job of the community board district manager to maintain community board files and records in both paper and electronic forms. The district manager works with the officers of the Board on its internal budget and payment processing. The District Manager presides over monthly District Service Cabinet meetings, which includes establishing the agenda and creating and preparing reports to the Board. The District Manager takes minutes of selected monthly meetings  

I can not understand why these documents that have been requested to see are not available when they should be. The only answers I can then conclude is that the documents requested do not exist, or are being hidden from the public as not to implicate the Community Board #2 District Manager Mr. Rafael Salamanca, other Community Community Board #2 members, and or any elected official involved with Bronx Community Board #2 in any way.