PROVIDENCE – A consent judgment entered in Providence County Superior Court last week ended a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch against the city of Cranston for violating the state’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).

In a news release, Lynch said that under the terms of the consent judgment, issued on June 16, the city has agreed to pay the state a $1,000 civil fine – the maximum allotted for an APRA violation – and has provided his office with a copy of its procedures regarding APRA, for review.

On July 14, 2008, Lynch filed papers in Superior Court seeking a civil fine for “a willful and knowing violation” of APRA against the city. Lynch brought the lawsuit on behalf of John Bina, a Cranston resident who, in a complaint filed with the Lynch in March 2008, alleged that he had twice sought the same public records from the city but had neither received the public documents nor received a response explaining why not, which APRA requires.

The release said that an investigative review revealed that the city’s failure to respond within 10 business days to Bina’s APRA requests, which were made in December 2007 and then renewed in February 2008, constituted a knowing or willful violation of APRA, requiring the attorney general to seek a monetary fine against the city. The attorney general had previously warned the city, on Feb. 14, 2008, in a separate APRA finding, that it must respond to requests for public information within 10 business days. The city finally responded to Bina in May 2008, after the attorney general’s office began its investigation. •