On July 25th, 2019 I sent a very simple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the City of Urbana. I sought to understand why a previous FOIA request was delivered late and also determine if Human Resources Director Todd Rent was lying to me about a mysterious “software issue” (he was).
“I would like any and all documents and reports related to the FOIA request I made to Bryant Seraphin on 7-17-2019. This should include any emails that were sent or received by any person concerning the
request. Please also include any documents, including emails, related to the “software issue” experienced by Todd Rent on 7-24-2019 which prevented him from filling the request.”
Todd Rent responded to the FOIA request himself, fully denying all documents, citing an exemption for “preliminary drafts” and “notes”. I had come to learn that Rent liberally applies this particular exemption to virtually every record that is not an official press release – it’s his go-to weapon against Urbana residents seeking records.
Fortunately, the Illinois Attorney General was not impressed with this one trick pony. Unfortunately, it still took six months to acquire any documents from the City of Urbana.
Many public bodies and their FOIA officers love to suggest that requesters seek help by appealing to the Public Access Counselor (PAC). The PAC is an arm of the Illinois Attorney General that is supposed to help civilians with FOIA and Open Meetings Act violations. Urbana City Attorney James Simon talks about the PAC as if it were some panacea of transparency and accountability. There is a reason that attorneys and FOIA officers do this: frequently, the PAC is where concerned civilians go to expend their energy, wait forever, and have their souls crushed.
This particular appeal was rather straightforward and Todd Rent’s illegal behavior was quite flagrant. Still, it took 6 months to acquire an initial determination from the PAC. After a few months into the appeal, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) assigned to the case changed jobs, and a new AAG had to be assigned to the case. You may think this kind of thing is rare, but it has happened to me several times in the past few years. The AAG change only accounted for a small part of the six month delay – PAC appeals often take several months and sometimes take years. I have several appeals that are now multiple years old, and are still waiting for a determination.
When Urbana did finally comply with the FOIA law (six months after my initial FOIA request), some of the documents were still heavily redacted. In March of 2019 (eight months after my initial FOIA request), I asked the PAC to review the redactions to make sure they were legal. I followed up twice in April, and I have not heard back yet. It has been fourteen months since my initial request, and I still don’t have the information that state law requires (I am quite certain, from context, that the redactions made by Assistant City Attorney Michelle Brooks are not legal).
The entire process is so exhausting and time-consuming, that the initial purpose of the FOIA request has been almost entirely lost to me. This is exactly what Urbana city staff intend when they cheerfully suggest that residents go to the PAC.
We can learn a few things from this request, since it was handled before Curt Borman was assigned to the FOIA Officer position by Mayor Marlin. The City of Urbana never used to charge for storage media, and they would always email FOIA records. In this case, Michelle Brooks demonstrated that she could easily email 14 megabytes of documents at one time. In the multiple instances where video files were involved, the City would provide them on DVD for no charge.
-Christopher Hansen, Urbana
The following documents support the claims I’ve made above:
Urbana FOIA Request Submitted 2019-07-25 (Labeled 2019-F-407)_Redacted
Urbana Response to FOIA Request 2020-F-276 by Todd Rent
Urbana FOIA Appeal on 2019-F-407 (PAC 59241)_Redacted
Urbana FOIA Appeal on 2019-F-407 (PAC 59241) Todd Rent Response_Redacted
Urbana FOIA Appeal on 2019-F-407 (PAC 59241) Hansen Response
Urbana FOIA Appeal on 2019-F-407 (PAC 59241) Determination of Violation_Redacted
Urbana Supplemental Response to FOIA Request 2019-F-407 (After Appeal)
Urbana Supplemental Response to FOIA Request 2019-F-407 (After Appeal) Records Provided
Urbana FOIA Appeal on 2019-F-407 (PAC 59241) Hansen Response Followup