Ballston Spa Mayor Frank Rossi Jr., seen at a meeting in 2019, recently posted on Facebook that the village will need to add a clerk to the 2027 budget to handle a high number of FOIL requests filed with village government.
Lori Van Buren/Times Union
Ballston Spa Mayor Frank Rossi said 50 FOIL requests have been filed with the village so far this year, and that officials are working to fulfill them.
Paul Buckowski/Times Union
BALLSTON SPA — The village will add another $25,000 to next year’s $7.5 million proposed budget to hire a deputy village clerk to fulfill what Mayor Frank Rossi has described on social media as “an unusual number” of open records requests.
He also wrote in a lengthy online post that at least two people seeking information using the state’s Freedom of Information Law “were told by our Village Clerk of the damage they were doing to resources of the Village in their continued pursuit of FOIL requests.”
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Rossi’s 2,501-word Facebook post on April 13, most of which was a detailed list of 20 FOIL requests filed with the village, sparked anger. Some information seekers have argued in social media comments and interviews that they are not causing harm by asking for information and that the village is damaging itself by not fulfilling FOIL requests in a timely manner.
Some have also claimed that criticizing people seeking public information has a chilling effect.
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“Requesting records isn’t overburdening the village — it’s one of the only lawful ways to challenge the claims he made and to seek accountability,” said Melissa Taylor, a town resident whose husband filed a FOIL request with village government. “When requests are publicly framed this way, and the requesters are blamed for overwhelming the village, it can deter others from exercising their right to ask questions and access information.”
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Rossi’s social media post also caught the attention of former Saratoga Springs Republican Committee Chair Michael Brandi. The attorney, known for his skill with FOIL, is credited with filing a complaint that led to the first-known conviction in the state of an elected official for not complying with FOIL rules.
On Facebook, Brandi responded to Rossi, who is also a Republican, writing, “I don’t like when municipalities attempt to intimidate FOIL requesters or violate the law. … Transparency is extremely important in local government and should be a top priority for local officials of any party.”
Rossi accused Brandi of “weaponizing the system.” Brandi responded, saying, “your hostility to open and honest government is very telling.”
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That led Rossi to pen a 45-page complaint to the state’s Attorney Grievance Committee, accusing Brandi of “abuse of the FOIL process.” On Monday, Rossi said he ultimately decided not to file it. But a copy of Rossi’s unsigned complaint was shared with Brandi, who called it “very bizarre” and an attempt “to threaten” him.
“Rossi’s use of extreme retaliatory measures, including personal and professional attacks on those who dare to request information from his administration is disturbing,” Brandi told the Times Union. “Transparency isn’t a favor granted by government, it’s a basic obligation of government. When officials treat it like a burden or a hassle, they’re forgetting who they work for.”
Rossi said he is not opposed to the FOIL process, but he does “object to the documented abuse of that process by one non-resident attorney pursuing a personal vendetta.”
In the Facebook post, Rossi wrote that 31 FOIL requests were filed with the village in 2026. He said that by Monday, April 20, that number had grown to 50, including four filed by Brandi. He noted in an emailed statement that “we are fulfilling” every request.
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“Nobody has been chilled,” Rossi wrote. “Nobody has been denied. Hiring staff to keep up with volume is not chilling — it’s compliance. Explaining that cost to taxpayers is transparency about transparency, which is exactly what the Committee on Open Government would want.”
The state Committee on Open Government’s Acting Executive Director and Counsel Kristin Bergin told the Times Union that while she understands concerns over fulfilling a larger number of FOIL requests, “it is important for public officials and employees to understand that responding to FOIL requests is a statutory obligation and the public should not be discouraged in any way from exercising their statutory right to make those requests.”
Rossi said he agrees with the committee “on every principle they have articulated,” and said his Facebook post was about the village’s budget, not FOIL requests.
After reviewing Rossi’s April 13 post, the New York Coalition for Open Government took exception to the mayor’s use of the word “damage.”
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“Such characterizations misrepresent both the purpose and the legal framework of New York’s transparency laws,” the nonprofit’s president, Michelle Allen, said in an email to the Times Union. “New York’s Freedom of Information Law was enacted to ensure that the public can review government records and understand how decisions are made.”
In the Facebook post, Rossi claimed most of the village’s FOIL requests have been filed by three people. Resident Keith Lewis is among the frequent requesters. He claimed he needed to file the requests because he was having difficulty getting village officials to respond to his questions.
He shared an April 16 email exchange with Village Clerk Rebecca Little, in which he asked why some FOIL requests are answered more quickly than others. Little wrote that she would talk to him about it over the phone, but he wanted a written response. So, he requested the answer pursuant to the state’s open records law.
“Since (Rossi) took office, the village has never provided a FOIL response to me without requiring the extra step of an appeal,” Lewis said on Monday. “If they spent a tenth of the time responding to requests that they spend fighting them, they would dramatically reduce both costs and volume — because every time they dodge a request, they force another one. The secrecy creates the burden, not the asking.”
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Rossi rebutted Lewis’ claims, saying all 12 of Lewis’ FOIL requests from 2026 will be fulfilled.
Lewis believes denials and delays in fulfilling FOIL requests are what are costing the village.
“If there is a cost to taxpayers, it flows from a village that has fought transparency at every turn, not from residents who asked questions the law entitles them to ask,” Lewis said.
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Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the hometown of Melissa Taylor.