Personal email FOIA request to Village of South Roxana trustee was procedurally improper

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Dear

This determination is issued pursuant to section 9.5(c) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ( 5 ILCS 140/ 9.5(c) (West 2022), as amended by Public Act 103 -069, effective January 1, 2024 ). For these reasons explained below, the Public Access Bureau has determined that no further action is warranted in this matter.

On April 24, 2024 , you e -mailed a FOIA request to Village of South Roxana Village) Trustee Anna Broadfoot on a gmail. com account, asking her for records from a Facebook page relating to the community . Trustee Broadfoot forwarded the request to the Village's administration and noted: "Individually, I am not a public body under FOIA." 1 The Village's administration indicated to Trustee Broadfoot that it was her responsibility to respond. On May 23, 2024, you submitted a Request for Review alleging that you had received no response after that correspondence between Trustee Broadfoot and the Village' s administration. On May 30, 2024, you confirmed to this office that "[t]he FOIA was directed to Trustee Broadfoot, individually." 2 Section 3(a) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/3(a) (West 2022)) provides that "[e]ach public body shall make available to any person for inspection or copying all public records, except as otherwise provided in Sections 7 and 8.5 of this Act." (Emphasis added.) Because FOIA applies to public bodies as a whole, the Act requires that "[ r]equests for inspection or copies shall be A]ll legislative, executive, administrative, or advisory bodies of the State, state universities and colleges, counties, townships, cities, villages, incorporated towns, school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees, or commissions of this State, any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees thereof, and a School Finance Authority created under Article 1E of the School Code. "Public body" does not include a child death review team or the Illinois Child Death Review Teams Executive Council established under the Child Death Review Team Act.

In Quinn v. Stone , 211 Ill. App. 3d 809 (1991), the Illinois Appellate Court concluded that individual officers of a public body do not fall within the definition of a " public body" under FOIA. Quinn , 211 Ill. App. 3d at 812. In that case, the court upheld the dismissal of a complaint for injunctive relief against a City of Chicago alderman for failing to respond to a FOIA request made of him individually because the alderman was "not the proper recipient" of a FOIA request. Quinn, 211 Ill. App. 3d at 812. Based on that precedent, the Public Access Bureau has consistently determined that public officials are not required to respond to FOIA requests directed to them individually. See, for example , Ill. Att'y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 70274, issued March 14, 2022 (request for records concerning proposed legislation was improperly directed to individual senator's office, rather than the Illinois Senate ).

Because individual public officials are not public bodies, Trustee Broadfoot did not violate FOIA by not respond ing to the request you directed to her individually . To the extent you seek public records of the Village, you may wish to submit a new request for those records to the Village rather than any trustee individually. This office notes that FOIA defines "public records" as:

A]ll records, reports, forms, writings, letters, memoranda, books, papers, maps, photographs, microfilms, cards, tapes, recordings, electronic data processing records, electronic communications, recorded information and all other documentary materials pertaining to the transaction of public business, regardless of physical form or characteristics, having been prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received by, in the possession of, or under the control of any public body . (Emphasis added.)

This file is closed. If you have any questions, please contact me at joshua. jones@ilag. gov.

Very truly yours, JOSHUA M. JONES Deputy Bureau Chief Public Access Bureau 81544 f no fi war mun cc: Via electronic mail Mr. Bob Coles Chief of Police/ City Administrator Village of South Roxana 211 Sinclair Avenue South Roxana, Illinois 62087 [email protected] Via electronic mail The Honorable Anna Broadfoot Trustee, Village of South Roxana [email protected]