(A) Any requestor whose request for information has been denied by the village may exercise his/her statutory right to petition the Public Access Counselor in the office of the Illinois Attorney General for review of said denial. A request for review must be filed with the Public Access Counselor not later than 60 days after the date of the final denial. Any such request for review must be in writing, signed by the requestor, and include copies of the original FOIA request and any responses received from the village.
(B) Upon receipt of a request for review, the Public Access Counselor shall determine whether further action is warranted. If the Public Access Counselor determines that the alleged violation of the Act is unfounded, he/she shall so advise the requestor and the Village and no further action will be taken with respect to the complaint. In all other cases, the Public Access Counselor shall forward a copy of the request for review to the village within seven working days after receipt and shall specify the records or other documents that the village shall furnish to facilitate the review. Within seven working days after receipt of the request for review, the Freedom of Information Officer must provide copies of the records requested and shall otherwise fully cooperate with the Public Access Counselor. To the extent that records produced by the village for the purposes of review contain information that is claimed to be exempt, the Public Access Counselor shall not further disclose that information.
(C) Within seven working days after he/she receives the request for review and request for production of records from the Public Access Counselor, the village may provide an answer to the allegations of the request for review in the form of a letter, brief, or memorandum. The Public Access Counselor shall forward a copy of any such written answer to the person submitting the request for review and the requestor may respond in writing to such answer within seven working days. If the requestor chooses to file a written response to the village’s answering of the allegations, he/she must also provide a copy of that response to the village.
(D) The Attorney General shall examine the issues and records submitted in conjunction with any request for review and shall, within 60 days, issue to the requestor and to the village an opinion in response to the request for review. The opinion shall be binding upon both the requestor and the village, subject to administrative review under Section 11.5. The Public Access Counselor may opt to extend the 60-day time period by up to 21 additional working days, provided that he/she sends written notice of such extension to both the requestor and the village. The Attorney General may exercise his/her discretion and choose to resolve a request for review by mediation or by a means other than the issuance of a binding opinion.
(E) Upon receipt of a binding opinion concluding that a violation of the Act has occurred, the Freedom of Information Officer shall either take necessary action immediately to comply with the directive of the opinion, or shall initiate administrative review under Section 11.5. If the opinion concludes that no violation occurred, the requestor may initiate administrative review under Section 11.5.
(F) Any person denied access to inspect or copy any public record shall also have the right to file suit for injunctive or declaratory relief in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Illinois.