(A) If the FOIA Coordinator makes a determination to deny all or a portion of a request, the requesting person may submit a written appeal to the Village Council.
(B) The Village Council is hereby designated the body vested with authority to hear and decide appeals from decisions by the FOIA Coordinator denying requests for public records under the FOIA.
(C) Any appeal of the FOIA Coordinator’s decision denying a request for a public record must be filed in writing with the Village Clerk, must state the word “appeal” in a prominent place on the first page of the documents filed, and must identify the reason or reasons the FOIA Coordinator’s denial decision should be reversed.
(D) Pursuant to the FOIA, the Village Council is not deemed to have received the appeal until the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Village Council following submission of the written appeal.
(E) Within ten days after receiving a written appeal, the Village Council shall do one of the following:
(1) Reverse the disclosure denial;
(2) Issue a written notice to the person making the disclosure request upholding the disclosure denial;
(3) Reverse the disclosure denial in part and issue a written notice to the person making the disclosure request upholding the disclosure denial in part; or
(4) Under unusual circumstances, issue a notice extending for not more than ten business days the period during which the Village Council will respond to the written appeal. The Village Council shall not issue more than one notice of extension for a particular written appeal.
(F) In deciding an appeal the Village Council shall consider the disclosure request without regard to the FOIA Coordinator’s decision and shall determine whether the requested public record should be disclosed, in whole or in part, or whether the public record, in whole or in part, is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.
(G) If the Village Council upholds all or a portion of the disclosure denial that is the subject of the written appeal, the requesting person may seek judicial review of the non-disclosure by commencing an action in circuit court within 180 days after the Village Council’s final determination to deny the request.
(Res. 2 of 2014, passed 11-10-2014)