The City of Urbana, Illinois seems to be doubling down on an unlawful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) denial issued in April of 2023. We had asked for records on Police Chief candidate Larry Boone but Urbana’s FOIA Officer, Ross McNeil, first unlawfully delayed his answer, then refused to provide any records at all on Boone.
McNeil argued that releasing Boone’s Police Chief application records “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of his personal privacy”.
After we brought the denial to the attention of the Public Access Counselor, Assistant Attorney General Teresa Lim said that the denial was improper, and she directed McNeil to release the records. However, it has been nearly six weeks since McNeil was directed to provide the records and he still hasn’t done so.
Unfortunately, this type of conduct is all too common. Even when public bodies are caught blatantly violating public records laws, the process often becomes so drawn out that the records cease to have any value. Public bodies make things so miserable for the requester that there is no longer any energy or desire to make use of the records.
A good solution to this problem would be to make individuals personally liable for unlawfully denying access to public records. Urbana, like many other municipalities, continues to appoint the same FOIA Officers and the same legal staff no matter how many times they violate state law, so don’t expect accountability to take place at the local level. A change to the FOIA statute increasing penalties and making bad actors personally liable would cause a tremendous increase in transparency state-wide.