FOIA Request to the IARDC – 5 days to answer

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Please see below, under the Illinios FOIA, the respondent has 5 days to obtain and transmit the information.

Let’s see what happens.

JoAnne

A copy of the FOIA act is here:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=85&ChapterID=2

A copy of the public policy of the act is below.  There is Illinois case law that says no person is to take any action in contravention to the public policies the Illinois state legislature has set forth or such actions are ineffective and may not be enforced.

    (5 ILCS 140/1) (from Ch. 116, par. 201)
    Sec. 1. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest.
    The General Assembly hereby declares that it is the public policy of the State of Illinois that access by all persons to public records promotes the transparency and accountability of public bodies at all levels of government. It is a fundamental obligation of government to operate openly and provide public records as expediently and efficiently as possible in compliance with this Act.
     This Act is not intended to cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, nor to allow the requests of a commercial enterprise to unduly burden public resources, or to disrupt the duly-undertaken work of any public body independent of the fulfillment of any of the fore-mentioned rights of the people to access to information.
****
    Restraints on access to information, to the extent permitted by this Act, are limited exceptions to the principle that the people of this State have a right to full disclosure of information relating to the decisions, policies, procedures, rules, standards, and other aspects of government activity that affect the conduct of government and the lives of any or all of the people. The provisions of this Act shall be construed in accordance with this principle. This Act shall be construed to require disclosure of requested information as expediently and efficiently as possible and adherence to the deadlines established in this Act.
    The General Assembly recognizes that this Act imposes fiscal obligations on public bodies to provide adequate staff and equipment to comply with its requirements. The General Assembly declares that providing records in compliance with the requirements of this Act is a primary duty of public bodies to the people of this State, and this Act should be construed to this end, fiscal obligations notwithstanding.
    The General Assembly further recognizes that technology may advance at a rate that outpaces its ability to address those advances legislatively. To the extent that this Act may not expressly apply to those technological advances, this Act should nonetheless be interpreted to further the declared policy of this Act that public records shall be made available upon request except when denial of access furthers the public policy underlying a specific exemption.
    This Act shall be the exclusive State statute on freedom of information, except to the extent that other State statutes might create additional restrictions on disclosure of information or other laws in Illinois might create additional obligations for disclosure of information to the public.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)

    (5 ILCS 140/1.1) (from Ch. 116, par. 201.1)
    Sec. 1.1. This Act may be cited as the Freedom of Information Act.
(Source: P.A. 86-1475.)
    (5 ILCS 140/1.2)
    Sec. 1.2. Presumption. All records in the custody or possession of a public body are presumed to be open to inspection or copying. Any public body that asserts that a record is exempt from disclosure has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that it is exempt.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
   (5 ILCS 140/2.10)
    Sec. 2.10. Payrolls. Certified payroll records submitted to a public body under Section 5(a)(2) of the Prevailing Wage Act are public records subject to inspection and copying in accordance with the provisions of this Act; except that contractors' employees' addresses, telephone numbers, and social security numbers must be redacted by the public body prior to disclosure.
(Source: P.A. 96-542, eff. 1-1-10.)
(NOTE: all other Illinois state employee payroll can be found at various places on the internet–Gov. Quinn has his publish and the Controller does too).
   (d) Each public body shall, promptly, either comply with or deny a request for public records within 5 business days after its receipt of the request, unless the time for response is properly extended under subsection (e) of this Section. Denial shall be in writing as provided in Section 9 of this Act. Failure to comply with a written request, extend the time for response, or deny a request within 5 business days after its receipt shall be considered a denial of the request. A public body that fails to respond to a request within the requisite periods in this Section but thereafter provides the requester with copies of the requested public records may not impose a fee for such copies. A public body that fails to respond to a request received may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under subsection (g).
    (e) The time for response under this Section may be extended by the public body for not more than 5 business days from the original due date for any of the following reasons:
        (i) the requested records are stored in whole or in

    
part at other locations than the office having charge of the requested records;
        (ii) the request requires the collection of a
    
substantial number of specified records;
        (iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and
    
requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it;
        (iv) the requested records have not been located in
    
the course of routine search and additional efforts are being made to locate them;
        (v) the requested records require examination and
    
evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions;
        (vi) the request for records cannot be complied with
    
by the public body within the time limits prescribed by paragraph (c) of this Section without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body;
        (vii) there is a need for consultation, which shall
    
be conducted with all practicable speed, with another public body or among two or more components of a public body having a substantial interest in the determination or in the subject matter of the request.
    The person making a request and the public body may agree in writing to extend the time for compliance for a period to be determined by the parties. If the requester and the public body agree to extend the period for compliance, a failure by the public body to comply with any previous deadlines shall not be treated as a denial of the request for the records.
    (f) When additional time is required for any of the above reasons, the public body shall, within 5 business days after receipt of the request, notify the person making the request of the reasons for the extension and the date by which the response will be forthcoming. Failure to respond within the time permitted for extension shall be considered a denial of the request. A public body that fails to respond to a request within the time permitted for extension but thereafter provides the requester with copies of the requested public records may not impose a fee for those copies. A public body that requests an extension and subsequently fails to respond to the request may not treat the request as unduly burdensome under subsection (g).
    (g) Requests calling for all records falling within a category shall be complied with unless compliance with the request would be unduly burdensome for the complying public body and there is no way to narrow the request and the burden on the public body outweighs the public interest in the information. Before invoking this exemption, the public body shall extend to the person making the request an opportunity to confer with it in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions. If any body responds to a categorical request by stating that compliance would unduly burden its operation and the conditions described above are met, it shall do so in writing, specifying the reasons why it would be unduly burdensome and the extent to which compliance will so burden the operations of the public body. Such a response shall be treated as a denial of the request for information.

FAX COVER SHEET
TO PC Denison & Assocs
COMPANY Denison & Assocs, PC
FAXNUMBER 13123768842
FROM Denison & Assocs, PC
DATE 2013-11-15 15:50:59 GMT
RE FOIA request for salary records
COVER MESSAGE
To the Keeper of Records/Human Resources/CFO;
Attn: MEDIA REQUEST FOR PUBLICATION
To whom it may concern;
In accordance with the Illinois FOIA statute 5 ILCS sec.
140/1 et.seq. we are respectfully requesting the following
information:
l)for all attorneys, supervisors, managers:
2) please provide name, job title and annual salary,
3) for the years 2000 to 2013 where the information is
from January 2013 to October 31, 2013.
This information will not be sold and is for non
commercial purposes for a non commercial b1og.
Your prompt assistance is greatly appreciated. You may
fax the information to 312 376 8842, email me at
“joanne@denison1aw.com”, or place the information in the
mail to “Denison & Assocs, PC; 1512 N Fremont st, #202,
Chicago, IL 60642.”
Joanne Denison

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