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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    104

    Default Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    FOIA req for 2 years of Board Minutes (24 months) of records from 30 years ago. 1 wk later: FOIA officer called requestor (A) who requested on behalf of group & wanted more specfics. We were specfic, but sent another copy e-mail. He called (A) again. wanted more info -(A) became frustrated and said B (now requestor B). I repeated again via e-mail what was wanted. Told it's now a "new" request. But they aren't denying request.
    a. Couple week later I email to inspect records. Foia officer "they are fragile".
    b. Couple days later public body "there is nothing in the records that reference any of the terms, people we referred to".
    c. I again ask to inspect records.
    d. Receive a phone call - Don't you trust us, FOIA officer "I looked through all the records requested. I'll have to pull the records that aren't public, and I'm very busy, etc. etc." I ask Foia officer if denying request please put in writing. Really no response except very very busy.
    e. My e-mail quoted the statute that states the right to public review of those records, no acknowledgment. Is there anything else I can do get the public body to allow me to inspect those records?
    Since they are NOT denying my request - they just claim that there isn't anything in the records.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    As you failed to follow the instruction to identify your state, I suggest that you research the FOIA laws for the jurisdiction at issue and see what they provide under this set of facts.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    104

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    IL
    I followed, asked FOIA officer ignored request to "inspect"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    165

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    It sounds like what the person is telling you is that the records that you have requested don't exist. With that in mind, the problem becomes apparent: your asking to inspect records, the clerk is telling you those records don't exist. See the problem?

    Do you have some proof that the records do indeed exist, and if so, have you provided that to the clerk?

    Public agencies are allowed to purge records, usually according to a schedule and depending on what the record is. So its quite possible that a record of something that you are seeking did exist at one point, but has since been purged. If it has been purged then you will probably get a response back like: "we have no records on file that match your criteria", or in other words, that record does not exist.

    Is the record that you seeking something that the agency keeps in perpetuity?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    8,006

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    Quote Quoting trafeng
    View Post
    Is the record that you seeking something that the agency keeps in perpetuity?
    Even if it is something they have to keep forever, it was from 30 years ago. Files get moved, lost, damaged, etc... over that long a period.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    104

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    No, Public Body isn't claiming the records don't exist - they are claiming they looked at them and can't find anything related to my request. They don't say they don't exist, basically they just don't want me to review them. I know for a fact there should have been one month of minutes they provided, but didn't. Maybe my next step is the office of the attorney general of the state, or perhaps an advocacy group that deals with problems of foia and public bodies.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    Quote Quoting epic
    View Post
    Maybe my next step is the office of the attorney general of the state, or perhaps an advocacy group that deals with problems of foia and public bodies.
    The agency is saying that it has no records that are responsive to your request. That is a form of denial of the request. Your next step would be to follow the rules in the state law to appeal that decision, likely to a state court, to obtain an order compelling the agency to produce the record(s). You bear the burden to prove the record does exist; the agency cannot prove a negative.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    7,056

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    Here is the Illinois FOIA for you to read. You can read what your remedies are for non-compliance.

    If you are requesting minutes of meetings, you will be surprised to find out how sketchy and non-informative they are. Minutes are not a transcript of the meeting. They are a synopsis of what happened. You say Board minutes. If that is a planning board or board of adjustment or such, then you want to request applications that were voted on. If this is a governing body, you want to request the draft ordinances that were voted on (whether they were passed or not).

    To see what I am saying, you only have to go read some current meeting minutes from the board you are seeking information from.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    104

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    Yes, I understand there is a legal process, however, I am relucant to do that. Would it encourage ... the public body to let me inspect the records if I write a letter and send it via mail with return receipt requested as proof that it was sent, rather than dealing in e-mail. Or, would it help to have a lawyer write the letter.
    After sending an e-mail and quoting the statute and providing a link to it about inspection of the documents I have received no correspondence back from the public body.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    104

    Default Re: Delay in Providing Documents Requested Under FOIA

    UPDATE: After quoting the statute not once, but three different times with the pertinent part of the statute - the FOIA officer finally allowed me to inspect the records.

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