Kane Co. voter group puts Freedom of Information Act laws to the test

There's plenty of room for improvement when it comes to how forthcoming suburban taxing bodies are with public information, according to a recent study by the Kane County League of Women Voters.

In April, the nonprofit organization sent identical letters to 44 government bodies asking for the names, titles, salaries and hire dates for all public officers and employees. The recipients weren't informed they were being tested, and were asked to respond electronically.

The results, according to the league, were a mixed bag of full approvals, partial denials, and responses that were both timely and late under the Freedom of Information Act.

Laurel Bault of the league's Elgin chapter said the project was meant to coincide with Independence Day and also to highlight President Obama's recent call for more transparency in government.

"The most telling result for me was that, while many agencies complied with our requests very professionally, quickly, fully and electronically, some did not, and some even made the process difficult," Bault said.

The league recruited 11 members to put in the requests as private citizens and document their experiences from start to finish.

In its final report, the league cited the village of South Elgin as an example of how records requests ideally are handled. The village provided the requested information almost immediately, as well as contact information for an employee who could address any follow-up questions, according to the report.

Mary Vandenboom, assistant to the village administrator, said she was pleased the league had a pleasant experience.

"If the information is public record, it should be easy to duplicate," she said. "We kind of want to make it (information requests) easy. We have a commitment to transparent government."

But others provided either incorrect or incomplete information, missed a seven-day legal deadline for responses, failed to respond electronically or asked for fees that ranged from a few cents to more than $100.

St. Charles Township Clerk Jack Brainard defended his office's request for a $50 expense fee to prepare the documents, and an initial denial of employee names that was later reversed, as the result of being a small, rural entity that receives few records requests and must pay someone to prepare such documents.

"We don't try to give anybody a rough time," he said. "It isn't a big thing with me, and I don't think it's a real big thing with anybody else unless they're just picking at it. If we figure we're wrong, we'll change something and do it right. But I'm still not convinced we were wrong."

Likewise, Campton Township Clerk Dick Johansen took issue with the report's characterization of his office's response. According to the report, Campton Township was late in responding to the initial request, required the completion of a special form, and provided incomplete information.

But Johansen said officials are prohibited from creating documents for the purpose of fulfilling a FOIA request, and the township also was not clear on precisely what the auditor was looking for. Additionally, he provided a letter of response dated five days after the initial request and within the legal time frame, although not all of the information was provided on that date.

Johansen added that the township was unable to provide employee hire dates because that information is maintained in personnel files, which are not open to the public.

"We bent over backward to get them what they wanted," Johansen said. "I think we handled it exactly the way it should be handled."

Bault, who stood by the report's findings, said the point was not to "catch somebody doing something wrong," but to raise awareness. In all, the project cost about $400 and was paid for with grant funds, she said.

"While the League of Woman Voter members are very tenacious, how would a citizen react to when faced with some of these barriers? My guess is that they would stop the process," she said. "We hope this audit is viewed as an educational tool not only for the public, but the agencies as well."

The full report details responses in parts of Kane, DuPage, Lake, Cook and McHenry counties. It is available online at lwvgenstc.org/audit.html or elgin.il.lwvnet.org/Public_Document_Audit.html.