On February 5th, 2022 Check CU sent a records request to the Village of Homer, Illinois asking for the identities of any Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officers, and their email addresses. The Village issued the following responses:
“Sharon Jeffers, Village Clerk, villageofhomer@gmail.com, has been the FOIA officer since the Village approved FOIA provision Ordinance in May of 2008. The said Ordinance is attached. I am currently the FOIA Officer. The Police Department FOIA Officer is Chief John Rouse, he has also been the FOIA Officer since May of 2008. His email is homerpd@gmail.com.”
“Homer Community Library FOIA officers:
CURRENT (July 2021 – present): Jill Weathers, Homer Community Library Board President (jweathershomerlibrarytrustee@gmail.com)
April 2015 – July 2021: Jane Clark, former Homer Community Library Board Secretary
1993 – April 2015: Linda Pruitt, former Homer Community Library Board Secretary”
All public bodies in Illinois are required to publicly post the identities of their FOIA Officers and contact information for the public to use to submit FOIA requests, but this information could not be located on the Village of Homer website.
On February 28th, Check CU asked for the FOIA training certificates for Homer’s FOIA Officers. FOIA Officer training is compulsory in the state of Illinois. Since 2010, state law has required every public body to designate one or more FOIA Officers, and those Officers must complete a training course provided by the Illinois Attorney General within 30 days of their appointment, and annually thereafter.
Village Clerk Sharon Jeffers could only produce a training certificate for October 27th, 2020. She sent another certificate dated March 3rd, 2022, which only leaves eleven years of failed compliance dating back to 2010. The 2022 certificate, oddly, did not have her name on it.
Village of Homer Police Chief, and FOIA Officer for the Police Department, Justin Rouse wrote in an email, “We are unable to provide you with the FOIA Officer Training Certificates.” He gave no further explanation.
No training certificates were provided for any of the Library FOIA Officers.
Records provided by the Village of Homer can be viewed here (click for full 7-page PDF):
