Time is money and information is power, but one Londoner has learned those two ideals can clash at city hall and now he might be out thousands of dollars.
Earlier this year there were a lot of questions raised about the public consultation city hall did in 2015 and 2016 regarding the Shift rapid transit plan.
When a Londoner filed a Freedom of Information request to get more details, the meeting minutes, meeting notes and attendance sign-up sheets, the bill came in at almost $9,000.
Londoner Paul Beechey couldn't believe response he received from city hall this week.
His Freedom of Information Act request for meeting minutes, notes and attendees at a series of public meetings about rapid transit would cost an estimated $8,850.
The estimate's breakdown: city hall's search would cost $600, consultant's working on the rapid transit plan were charging the remaining $8250.
The clerk's office confirmed to Beechey that the consultant is IBI group.
“Shift is a publicly funded initiative, these are public meetings, I thought all of this information would be in the public domain,” says Beechey.
Beechey also confirmed by email with city staff that IBI Group understood his request was only related to the public consultation events that shift undertook over the past couple years.
“If the city is using this as a proof source that these meetings occurred, then they should be readily available, they should be actually providing them,” said Beechey.
Paul appealed the cost of his information request and was at least partially successful. City hall agreed to lower the amount from $8,850 down to $7,100, which didn't make it much more affordable for him but did shed more light on the expenses being estimated by the consultants.
The reduction of $1,750 was explained by the manager of records as costs that IBI can't be reimbursed for because they represented time spent photocopying-- and estimated 20 hours.
Those figures average $87.50 per hour for photocopying.
It also means the remaining consultant search time, 60 hours at $6,500 represents an average hourly rate of $108, more than three times that charged by city hall.
Beechey says despite the importance of the information, he isn't willing to spend $7,100 to get it.
He hopes city hall will just release the minutes, notes and attendance sign in sheets from those shift consultation events.
CTV News emailed both IBI Group's lead on the project Brian Hollingworth and Shift's new communications manager Nathan MacDonald today. MacDonald referred CTV to the city's manager of records for comment. She pointed out that provincial privacy rules prevent her from discussing specific Freedom of Information Act requests.