In April of 2014, the City of Urbana was cited by the Illinois Attorney General (IAG) for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) violation committed by Human Resources Director Todd Rent.
Rent refused to provide invoices regarding the City’s payments to an outside law firm, Lowenbaum Partnership, which is based in St. Louis.
News Gazette reporter Patrick Wade sent his FOIA request on December 16, 2013, asking for the financial records showing payments made to the law firm and the attorneys Corey Franklin and Whitney Cooney, along with the invoices the associated invoices. A week later, Todd Rent filed an extension for his response, and on December 31st, issued his final response.
Rent agreed to provide basic payment records, but refused to provide the requested invoices, arguing that attorney invoices are exempt under Section 7(1)(m) of FOIA, which allows a public body to opt not to release “communications between a public body and an attorney”. Rent argued that the invoices would also be exempt under Section 7(1)(p) of FOIA, which allows a public body to opt not to release “records relating to collective negotiating matters between public bodies and their employees…”.
Mr. Wade sent a “request for review” to the IAG Public Access Counselor (PAC) on January 3rd, 2014, alleging that Todd Rent had violated FOIA. Counsel to the Attorney General, Michael Luke, initiated an investigation on January 13th, 2014.
In response to the Luke’s inquiries, Todd Rent attempted to asserted yet a third FOIA exemption upon the same records he has already denied under Sections 7(1)(m) and 7(1)(p). On January 30th, 2014, Rent argued to the PAC that Section 7(1)(n) also applied. 7(1)(n) allows a public body to opt not to release “records relating to a public body’s adjudication of employee grievances or disciplinary cases…”.
In his April 15th, 2014 determination letter, the PAC struck down all three exemptions that Rent had attempted to throw into his records denial. Luke cited case law for why each exemption would not apply, including the exemption that Rent improperly tried to throw in after long after his initial records denial.
Todd Rent’s FOIA violation not only landed a determination of violation from the IAG, but the PAC issued their response as a “binding opinion”. Binding opinions are only issued by the PAC when a violation is clear enough that the IAG is willing to litigate a lawsuit with the public body if needed. Including the Urbana violation cited here, the PAC only issued twelve binding opinions on FOIA in the entire state of Illinois in 2014.
Unfortunately, Rent’s efforts to unlawfully delay and deny records continued on in Urbana – two such violations are documented here, here, and here. However, Rent did not stick around long enough to take responsibility for his more recent FOIA violations. In December of 2019, Rent resigned his Urbana position and became the Human Resources Director for the University of Iowa. Check CU attempted to acquire records related to Rent’s new employment there, but that records request was largely denied.
The Illinois Attorney General determination of FOIA violation by the City of Urbana was issued on April 15, 2014, labeled PAC opinion 14-002 on Request for Review 2014 PAC 27500, and can be viewed here (click image for full 9-page PDF):
