Failure to Respond to a FOIA Request
The Village of Washington Park (Village) violated FOIA by failing to comply with, deny in whole or in part, or otherwise appropriately respond to three FOIA requests. On February 21, 2018, an individual submitted three FOIA requests to the Village seeking certain records pertaining to the Village and its Fire Department. On March 14, 2018, having received no responses from the Village, the Requestor submitted three Requests for Review to the PAC. On March 22, 2018, the PAC forwarded copies of the Requests for Review to the Village, asking the Village if it had received and responded to the Requestor’s FOIA requests and also asking that, if the Village had not yet responded, it do so. The Village did not respond to the PAC’s first letter, so it reached out the Village again, on April 6, 2018. The Village did not respond to the PAC’s second letter, and as of the issuance of this June 26, 2018 binding opinion, the PAC had not received a response from the Village.
The PAC found that the Village violated Section 3(d) of FOIA by failing to respond to the three FOIA requests. The PAC ordered the Village to immediately provide all records in response to the FOIA Requestor, subject only to any permissible redactions under Section 7.
This opinion is binding only to the parties involved and may be appealed pursuant to State law.