FOIA Documents

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 Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a formal FOIA request is not required for records that are already required to be publicly available.

Examples include:

• Meeting agendas and approved meeting minutes. 
• Ordinances, resolutions, and municipal codes. 
• Annual budgets and financial reports. 
• Public notices. 
• Frequently requested records that are posted on the public body's website. 
• Information discussed or distributed during open public meetings. 

FOIA is generally used when the record you want is not already publicly available or when you need copies of specific government records.

Yes. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, there may be a fee, but many requests cost nothing.

• No charge for electronic records when they can be provided electronically (unless there's an actual cost for the storage media, such as a USB drive).  
• The first 50 pages of standard black-and-white, letter- or legal-sized paper copies are free.  
• After 50 pages, a public body may charge up to $0.15 per page for standard black-and-white copies.  
• Color copies, oversized documents, or special media may be charged at the actual cost of reproduction. 

The Village, by law, must respond to a non-commercial FOIA request within 5 business days after receiving it. If additional time is needed for reasons allowed by law, it may extend the deadline by up to 5 additional business days, but it must notify the requester in writing before the original deadline expires.

 Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, certain records are exempt from disclosure, including personal private information, personnel records, ongoing law enforcement investigations, attorney-client privileged communications, trade secrets, security-related records, and other records specifically exempted by state or federal law.

Under the Illinois FOIA:

• FOIA only requires a public body to provide existing public records. 
• It does not require a public body to create a new record or restore a record that has already been deleted in the ordinary course of business. 
• However, if a FOIA request has already been received (or litigation is reasonably anticipated), records that are responsive to the request generally must be preserved and should not be deleted.