Access to information.

A. When requested, the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers shall make available to the public, for inspection and/or copying, information and data on industrial users obtained from reports, questionnaires, permit applications, permit and monitoring programs, and inspections, unless the industrial user specifically requests confidentiality and is able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers that such information, if made public, would divulge processes or methods of production entitled to protection as trade secrets of the user.

Wastewater constituents and characteristics and reports of accidental discharges shall not be recognized as confidential. This information shall be provided in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIL).[1][1]Editor's Note: See the New York State Public Officers Law, § 84 et seq., B. When requested by the person furnishing a report, the portions of a report which might disclose trade secrets or secret processes shall not be made available for inspection and/or copying by the public but shall be disclosed, upon written request, to governmental agencies, for uses related to this chapter, or the SPDES permit, and/or the pretreatment programs, providing that the governmental agency making the request agrees to hold the information confidential, in accordance with state or federal laws, rules and regulations.

Such portions of a report shall be available for use by the state or any state agency in judicial review or enforcement proceeding involving the persons furnishing the report. The Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers shall provide written notice to the industrial user of any disclosure of confidential information to another governmental agency. Wastewater constituents and characteristics will not be recognized as confidential information.C. Where a request is made to the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers to treat information as confidential, the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers shall treat it as such unless he notifies the user, in writing, of his denial of the request.

The decision of the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers shall be effective 10 days after the date of the notice. If review of the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers's decision is commenced under the contested cases provision of Article XI before the expiration of the 10 days, the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers shall continue to treat the information as confidential unless the Town Board upholds the Chief Plant Operator and/or Superintendent of Sewers's initial decision denying the request for confidentiality. The decision of the Town Board shall be effective five days after service of the final decision upon the user.