NORWICH – Department of State Committee on Open Government Executive Director Robert Freeman visited Norwich Town Hall Monday evening, where he offered his expertise to the public in relation to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and the Open Meetings Law.

About 30 people – both public officials and community members – attended the event as Freeman offered advice to anyone who requested clarification on the two laws, and described the duties of the Committee on Open Government.

“It’s a unit within the Department of State, very small, the staff is three of us at full strength. I describe it as the smallest state agency that actually does anything, and leave the rest to your imagination,” said Freeman, adding that the unit offers advice, opinions, guidance, and training to anybody to wants to know about public access to government information in New York, primarily in relation to FOIL and the Open Meetings Law.

“What I want to leave you with tonight is the general notion that the two laws we’re talking about are based primarily on reasonableness and common sense,” Freeman said. “All they really say, all they should ever say, in my opinion, is that everything is open except to the extent that disclosure would hurt, significantly, either somebody in terms of an invasion of privacy, the government in terms of its ability to do its job well on behalf of the public, or sometimes a private company in relation to its competition.”