Manhattan CB2 district manager notifies board of FOIL demand; issues litigation hold

Valerie Dela Rosa, chair of Manhattan Community Board 2, and Mark (district manager) told the executive committee the board has received a FOIL demand and that a litigation hold is in effect.

Mark said the board already has contacted the city Law Department and the borough president's general counsel for guidance and that the legal offices advised the group to stop deleting records related to the subject of the request. He urged members not to allow automatic deletion of emails or document purges while counsel reviews the matter.

The district manager told the committee the request "is a little bit" imprecise and appears to be committee‑specific; he said the request relates to a matter that came up last week and will be discussed at full board this week, creating a tight response schedule. Mark said routine personal notes not tied to the subject may be excepted but recommended that members keep documents and contact him or the office if they have questions.

Board members asked what kinds of records to keep; Mark said the safe approach is to retain documents that could relate to the request and to consult the district manager or counsel before deleting communications. He repeated that a FOIL demand imposes a legal obligation not to destroy potentially responsive materials and described the familiar risk of an adverse inference if records are later found to be missing.

The district manager also said the office will include as much of the full board package as possible when posting to comply with open‑meetings posting rules; committee and board members asked for clarification and follow‑up guidance about which items to retain and for how long.