The City of Richmond’s former FOIA officer has filed a $250,000 lawsuit against the city alleging she was fired in retaliation for refusing to violate state law, according to various news reports.

The suit, filed by Connie Clay, alleges that city officials attempted to withhold information that should be public by delaying or ignoring requests, and sometimes quoting exorbitant fees to deter the requester.

It was part of an effort to keep public information secret and in violation of state law, per the lawsuit, said Ms. Clay, who reportedly was fired from her post as the city’s Freedom of Information Act officer and public information manager on Jan. 19 after six months in the role.

Ms. Clay alleges in the lawsuit that when she began the job, she was instructed to delay responses on all FOIA requests until the fifth day and then invoke the seven-day extension, regardless of whether more time was needed to respond or not.

She said she found multiple requests were months overdue, including one for the city’s casino proposals, that she was instructed not to respond to despite her finding no legal grounds to withhold the documents.

Ms. Clay outlined two instances in her brief term in which the City was sued over its failure to respond to FOIAs in a timely manner and only responded once a lawsuit was filed, Axios news reports. Ms. Clay alleged she was instructed to delete relevant and public information from records before turning them over to a reporter.

Plus, she cited one occurrence of FOIA-related records being deleted from her email and instances of the city’s FOIA email address simply not working.

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act protects the public’s right to access many government records. Journalists, interest groups and others frequently use it to hold officials accountable for taxpayers’ dollars.

Public bodies have to comply with those requests within five business days or, if that’s not possible, ask for a seven-day extension. The government can charge “reasonable costs” to respond to a request.

“The city believes the claims are baseless and intends to defend the lawsuit in court,” Richmond City Attorney Laura Drewry said in a statement.