Commissioner’s Office To Review FOI Request On Planning Department

Greater transparency might be coming when it comes to some of the inner workings of the Planning Department.

This after the Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) has agreed to review the response received by MJ Independent into the inner workings of the City of Moose Jaw’s Planning Department.

The City was tight lipped in early June when they responded to MJ Independent officially requesting information about the inner workings of the Planning Department and how it was holding up development.

The City had used the argument the request infringed on employee(s) privacy rights and therefore no information would be released

“This file has been assigned OIPC  REDACTED and I will be handling the intake and early resolution portion of the review. Now that a review file is opened, OIPC requests that you do not reach out to the City of Moose Jaw (City) about this matter as we are now engaged,” a letter from OIPC stated. 

The OIPC will now try to informally acquire further documentation from the City to see if that satisfies the request.

If there is not a sufficient release of documents the OIPC may conduct a formal review of the request and then provide a formal report with recommendations which may ask that the documents be released.

A formal review is an extensive process that can take six months to a year to complete.

The Planning Department has allegedly made a series of errors when it comes to building permits. MJ Independent has received our fair share of complaints from developers and homeowners about the department.

A discount retailer, Uncle Weiner’s, publicly announced the cancellation of their Moose Jaw expansion plans blaming the difficulty of obtaining permits from the City.

Unofficially some in City Hall have tried to frame the difficulties to a single rogue employee.

That argument might be falling apart however as the City has allegedly hired two third party firms - Colliers and Professional Building Inspectors - to stabilize the department.

This after one employee resigned and two were shown the door.

MJ Independent has previously tried to seek comment about the issue from Mayor James Murdock but received none.