The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen handled 30 formal requests for access to its records in 2024.

The Freedom of Information requests included six requests about bylaw enforcement complaints, eight about building inspection files, five about planning and land use records, four regarding fire investigations and 11 regarding miscellaneous matters such as copies of contracts, invoices and letters.

Around 4,000 pages of records were released during the year, said Gillian Cramm, deputy corporate officer for the regional district.

Fees were charged for eight of these applications, bringing in $1,490.

In her report to the regional district board, Cramm added that the requests were used as an opportunity to consider whether certain records should be made routinely available to the public.

A request for a Union of B.C. Municipalities briefing note, through a Freedom of Information request, led to a decision to make all 2024 Union of B.C. Municipalities briefing notes are available on the regional district鈥檚 website.

The regional district covers an area of 10,403 square kilometres in the South Okanagan and Similkameen, with a population of more than 90,000.

By comparison, the community of Summerland, within the regional district, has received a flood of Freedom of Information requests in recent years.

Kendra Kinsley, Summerland鈥檚 director of corporate services, said the community with a population of 12,000 received 37 Freedom of Information requests, from 28 applicants, in 2024. 

In 2023, Summerland was bombarded with 73 requests, while in 2022, there were 31 Freedom of Information requests.

Summerland鈥檚 Freedom of Information requests, especially from 2023 and early 2024, led to legal action.

In late February 2024, a 20-page report from the province鈥檚 Information and Privacy Commissioner found that 10 requests from a single respondent were 鈥渟ystematic鈥� and 鈥渆xcessively broad,鈥� and that responding to them would interfere unreasonably with the municipality鈥檚 operations.

Over the three-year period leading up to the decision, the municipality had received 79 Freedom of Information requests from the individual, of which family members made 18 on his behalf. Many were multiple requests put into one, the report stated.

Nine of the 10 requests in this instance would have generated 46,791 pages and three video files. The volume of pages from the 10th request was not calculated.

The applicant later filed an appeal of this decision, claiming that the adjudicator showed bias in favour of the municipality in making the decision. This appeal has not yet worked its way through the legal system.

The cost of all Freedom of Information requests received in Summerland in 2023 would have provided enough work for two full-time staff members, at a cost of around $200,000 including wages and benefits.