(A) In accordance with the law, the Village of Shiloh will respond to all non-commercial requests within five working days of receipt. Responses will be provided to any commercial requests within 21 working days of receipt. In processing requests for information made under the Act, the village shall give priority first to any non-commercial requests pending before it. The village must respond in one of the following methods:
(1) Approval of request.
(a) If the requested records are available and determined to be non-exempt, the village will advise the requestor of the documents which are available and the cost to copy the records. For commercial requests, the village response will include an estimate of the time required to locate and compile the records requested, as well as the estimated fees to be assessed to the requestor.
(b) If the requestor has asked to inspect the documents, the village will provide the requestor with notice of a time and location in which the records will be conducted during normal business hours at the Village Hall, unless another location is otherwise agreed upon by the village and the requesting party. The village may require that an officer or employee of the village be present during any inspection of public records. A requestor may also be prohibited from bringing bags, briefcases, or other containers into the room in which the inspection takes place. Documents made available for inspection will be held for fourteen working days from the date of the village’s response and, thereafter, will be re-filed.
(c) Fees for copies of records, unless waived, must be paid in advance. All copying of documents shall be done by an officer or employee of the Village of Shiloh. Upon written request, the village will mail copies of public records to the requestor.
(2) Notice of extension. Under certain circumstances, the Freedom of Information Act allows the Village to provide notice of an extension of time for response to a request. This time period shall not exceed an additional five working days, or a total of ten working days from the receipt of the original request. Any notice of extension must cite the reason why the extension is necessary.
(3) Denial of request.
(a) Any denial of any part of a request shall be made in writing and shall state the reason(s) for the denial in accordance with Section 3(g), or if the record is determined to be exempt, pursuant to Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act.
(b) Section 3(g) of the Act allows the village to deny a request for a category of records if compliance with the request would place an undue burden upon the village and there is no way to narrow the scope of the request, and/or the burden on the village outweighs the public interest in the information. Before denying a request on the basis of the exemption, the village will contact the requestor to offer him/her an opportunity to confer with the village in an attempt to reduce the scope of the request to a manageable proportion. Any denial pursuant to Section 3(g) shall specify the reason(s) why it would be unduly burdensome to the village and the extent to which compliance with the request would burden the operation of the village. Repeated requests for the same public records by the same person shall be deemed unduly burdensome and shall be denied accordingly.
(c) Section 7 of the Act enumerates a series of records that are considered exempt from public disclosure and, therefore, need not be produced by the village.
(d) All denials shall include the name and title of the individual or individuals responsible for the denial of the request, and shall include a detailed factual basis for the application of any exemption claimed. Any denial must also include a notice of the requestor’s statutory right to petition the office of the Public Access Counselor in the office of the Illinois Attorney General for review of the denial, as well as the right to judicial review under Section 11 of the Act. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, copies of all denials shall be retained by the Freedom of Information Officer and will be indexed according to the type of exemption asserted and, to the extent feasible, according to the type of records requested.
(e) If the village determines that a FOIA request should be denied by claiming an exemption under subsection (l)(c) or (l)(f) of Section 7 of the Act, the Freedom of Information Officer shall provide written notice to both the requestor and the Public Access Counselor of the village”s intent to deny the request in whole or in part. This notice shall include: a copy of the original FOIA request; the proposed response from the village; and a detailed summary of the village’s basis for asserting the exemption. Upon receipt of the notice of intent to deny, the Public Access Counselor shall determine whether or not further inquiry is warranted. Within five working days after receipt of the notice of intent to deny, the Public Access Counselor shall notify the village and the requestor whether further inquiry is warranted.