Kimberly Orlich vs. City of Belding: FOIA Feuding

[XLFD]

I offer this story up to those that believe my FOIA requests on local and state government units are excessive.  A Belding woman, Kimberly Orlich has allegedly made 400 FOIA requests this year alone (that's about nine per week) from the local City of Belding (population:  5752).  This is her right, unfortunately, she doesn't seem to be publicly releasing what she is determining from these requests, so it cannot be readily apparent if she is doing this because she is just extremely interested in what is going on in her city or for some other purpose.

In this article published earlier this year, the Belding Daily News published that city officials were frustrated, and published her various requests for information.  The request's material make her inquiries appear to be directed in a focused investigation, so one could hope the material she has received, and the material that have been denied, are cogent to her understanding of how the City of Belding is conducting their business. 

But it looks as if her curiosity has led to some reaction by the Belding Police, who are often the targets of her requests, as this WOOD TV article shows.  What are your thoughts on what's happening there? 

 Belding police took Kimberly Orlich to jail in Mackinac County on an outstanding civil warrant. In the 13 hours she was in jail, the City of Belding denied 17 Freedom of Information Act requests from her. (Nov. 26, 2013)

 

BELDING, Mich. (WOOD) - There's no question that Belding officials consider Kimberly Orlich a major pain.

So far this year, they say, she has made 400 Freedom of Information Act requests that they say interfere with operating the small local government.

Then in October, Belding police got a tip, they say, that Orlich was driving without a valid license. That led to a record check that revealed a civil warrant for her arrest from Mackinac County in the Upper Peninsula.

Belding police took her to St. Ignace and turned her over to local sheriff's authorities. In the 13 hours she was in jail there, 17 of her FOIA requests were denied because she was incarcerated

[XLFD]

For the record, I have made less than 220 distinct FOIA requests to Michigan public bodies since I began the practice in 2009, about 50 per year (that includes proxy FOIA requests to Ludington in my banishment from City Hall and the Police Station).  About eighty percent of those requests are to the public body known as the City of Ludington. 

Also, for the record, there is no quota for submitting too many FOIA requests, but an antagonistic public body who frequently deny requests and seem to avoid transparent policies actually accelerate the use of FOIA requests to uncover what they are trying to hide.  Let's not fool ourselves:  government regulatory agencies do not like to investigate other government agencies nowadays.

 

[Willy]

If the city of Belding would give her the information she seeks without requiring her to file a FOIA, this entire matter would be moot. Just let her look at what ever she needs then let her decide if she needs copies which she could then pay for. Many Government agencies have taken the FOIA to idiotic heights which has caused needless conflicts between citizens and Government officials.

[XLFD]

If the new FOIA bill is passed, Ms. Orlich would be able to go to the Belding City Hall and Police Station and look at the records on her own, and make her own copies.  Train a non-intrusive camera on her to keep her honest and the records secure, and there goes the expenses the City of Belding complains about. 

[Willy]

That's an excellent idea. The City of Ludington could let curious citizens examine documents in the public toilets. That would give them another excuse to keep poopers under the watchful eye of those intrusive surveillance cameras. Instead of  magazine racks the City could install official document racks and keep them stocked with the latest information about the City's potentially corrupt and illegal behavior.

[XLFD]

ROFL, Willy, I suppose they can then post the videos of these toilet document examinations on Youpoop. 

[XLFD]

The video is now on the WOOD website from this evening.  Is Belding's Police Chief and City Manager believable to you?

[A. Murphy]

Isn't anyone else bothered by the cost to the taxpayers from Orlich's hobby? It does cost time and money to process her requests, and while she's supposed to pay that cost, she either claims poverty because she doesn't work and lives on welfare or else she gets the bills and refuses to pay them. So you and I wind up paying while this woman, who should be out looking for a job, sits in her HUD house, eating food bought by taxpayers via foodstamps, and just plays this stupid game for no apparent reason other than to keep herself from being bored. Orlich needs to get a job and get off of public assistance and once she does that, then I'm willing to allow her to make copies of as many documents as she can pay for. But right now, we're just supporting this welfare cow AND providing her with daily entertainment since she's not interested in looking for work during business hours. If nothing else, she should be bused to Detroit and made to pick up litter and paint over graffiti five days a week since she's not doing anything else to earn the tax dollars that she's sucking out of the system.

[Willy]

How are her FOIA request costing the taxpayers any additional money? The information has already been gathered and recorded at taxpayers expense long before her FOIA requests were made. The employees that will be giving her the information are on the payroll already so I don't understand how having Government employees handing out public information is costing any extra money.

[A. Murphy]

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you, Willy? The employees have other work to do and "Welfare Kim" is taking their time away from that work. Also, there are costs associated with making copies, mailing copies out, etc., that Welfare Kim isn't paying, therefore we, the working people, have to cover it. 

Let's be honest here. Welfare Kim isn't exposing or even making a credible argument for "corruption". She got fired for having an improper relationship with at least one convict when she taught classes in the prison. Even soliciting a convict's help on dealing with a DUI arrest is prohibited and every state correctional employee or contractor knows this because they have to take classes on it. Now, seven years later, instead of returning to the workforce, she's sitting on a welfare couch eating welfare food and using a welfare computer to bother working people and bog down various government agencies that exist to do something that Welfare Kim is obviously allergic to, namely work.

Welfare Kim needs to get a job. Seriously. McDonalds is always hiring. So is Wal-Mart.

[Willy]

Murphy

I'm going to be nice to you even tho your a bit of an air-head in your thought processes regarding the workings of Government offices. There should be no need for the FOIA. The only reason we have it is because Government agencies were completely refusing to supply citizens with information regarding Governmental business. But now that FOIA is in affect, citizens are forced to jump thru hoops to get that information and often times pay exaggerated amounts of money for that info. Those employees your talking about are already on the job and are already getting paid. Don't you understand that some of a "clerks" duties are to intake, handle, file and disseminate information to the public. In other words that's their job.  You sound like you have a personal vendetta against Kimberly Orlich. Care to tell why?

[XLFD]

Just on a whim, I did a quick check on the surname Murphy with the City of Belding and found that a dozen years ago a B. Murphy was the City Manager of that small city, before he was moved to Village Manager of Plainfield.  Just for the record, A Murphy, assure us that you do not have any sort of relation to that person or the City of Belding, so that you don't come on here with an agenda that goes beyond the FOIA.

Putting that aside either way, I, a frequent user of the FOIA myself for my local governments, did send three distinct FOIA requests over a period of a few days so as to see for myself whether there was a problem on the "supply-side" of the information, rather than the "demand side" which is what side you argue for. 

The first was a simple request to be given Belding's FOIA Policy, and any amendments/changes to that policy over the last five years.  The other two were concerning the policies the BPD had on transporting civil offenders to other counties, and police reports concerning the incident with Ms. Orlich that had her shipped to the U.P. for such a deed. 

These requests were all made within a 48 hour period and were sent separately.  The response was-- how shall I say-- rather ridiculous.  I didn't receive any information and was slapped with a bunch of fees that were not allowed by the FOIA, nor observant to my requests.  I can see why Ms. Orlich is frustrated, and I believe her when she says the City of Belding is crooked, due to my findings.  I will provide this data with a supplementary thread on the misuse of public funds by Belding in failing to provide the public with the records they request. 

As for your suggestions that Ms. Orlich should be bused to Detroit to work to pay off unlawful fees for records that are illegally being withheld from her, I suggest that a better return on tax dollars would be to have the investigative arm of the AG's office bused to Belding to check out their so-called public records.

[A. Murphy]

Come on...everyone on here knows that you're really Welfare Kim. Own up to it already and quit talking about yourself in the third person.

And you should be bused to Detroit to work just to pay off the welfare money spent supporting you. As long as there is labor to be performed, able-bodied adults should not be able to sit at home and watch Oprah and send out annoying FOIAs all day. Get a job, Kim.