FOIA Policy and Request

Effective March 1, 2021

• A. Introduction
• Brief District Description
  • The Manteno Community Fire Protection District, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a fire protection district organized pursuant to the Illinois Fire Protection District Act (70 ILCS 705/1 et seq.) to provide fire protection and other emergency services to the District residents.
  • Method to Request Information (Brief Description) All public requests for information and/or records will be processed through the District’s administrative offices located at 13 S. Walnut Street, Manteno, Illinois 60950. These requests shall be directed to the District’s Fire Chief pursuant to the District’s administrative regulations at the address noted above. The District’s Fire Chief shall serve as the designated Freedom of Information Act Officer unless the District designates another District employee to function in that role. The Freedom of Information Act Officer shall complete the training as required in Section 3.5 of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/3.5.
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    For any additional information, administrative offices are open Monday through Friday 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The telephone number is (815) 468-7100.
• B. Public Access to Records
•  Generally
  • The District shall make available its public records to any person requesting access pursuant to the provisions of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.), as well as other applicable law. The District shall not provide access to public records or portions thereof that are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of the Act (5 ILCS 140/7) or as provided by other applicable law.
  • Nonexempt Materials Contained in Exempt Records
  • The District shall delete or redact any information that is exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of the Act (5 ILCS 140/7) from a public document that contains nonexempt material and make the remaining information available for inspection and copying.
  • 1. Denial of Request for Public Records; Appeal
    
    • a. Any person denied access to inspect or copy any public record may appeal the denial by sending a written notice of appeal to the Fire Chief.
    • b. After receiving notice of appeal, the Fire Chief or his designee shall promptly review the public record under the Act and District regulations and make a determination whether the record is open to inspection and copying. Within seven working days after the notice of appeal the Fire Chief or his designee shall notify the person making the appeal of his or her determination.
• General Materials Available
  • The following information will be made available to the public:
    • 1. List of all types of record categories under the District’s control.
      • a. Financial Records
        • Budget
        • Levy resolution and certificate of tax levy
        • Audit
        • Bills
        • Receipts for revenue
        • Bills payable
        • Canceled checks
        • Labor agreements
        • Utility bills
      • b. General Records
        • Board minutes
        • Board resolutions and Ordinances
        • Bidding specifications
        • Board policies and administrative procedures
        • Administrative instructions to staff
        • Personnel names, salaries, titles and dates of employment
        • Office equipment
        • Insurance
        • Capital equipment
        • Real estate
        • Legal notices
        • Application for contracts, permits, grants or agreement
        • Consulting contracts
        • Contracts for capital equipment
        • Contracts for office supplies
        • Contracts for maintenance and repair
        • Number of employees
      • c. Incident Reports and EMS Reports ( if allowed by law)
• D. Request Procedures
  • 1. Initiation of Request
    • Any person wishing to inspect or copy a District public record(s) shall submit a written request to the Fire Chief on a request form provided by the District or by any other written means. The District may choose to accept verbal requests but is under no obligation to do so. The request must specify District records with reasonable particularity to avoid inefficient use of staff time in retrieving and preparing records for inspection.
  • 2. Response to Request
    • a. The District shall either comply with or deny the written request for public records within five (5) working days after its receipt (see appendix A, forms B, C, D). Denial shall be by letter as provided below. Failure to respond to a written request within five (5) working days after its receipt shall be considered a request denial.
    • b. The District’s response time may be extended for not more than five (5) additional working days for any of the following reasons. The District may also request additional extensions of time to fill the records request from the requester for these same reasons.
      • i. The requested records are stored in whole or in part at other locations than the office having charge of requested records;
      • ii. The request requires the collection of a substantial number of specified records;
      • iii. The request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it;
      • iv. The requested records have not been located in the course of routine search and additional efforts are being made to locate them;
      • v. The requested records require examination and evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of the Act (5ILCS 140/7) or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions;
      • vi. The District cannot comply with the request for records within five working days without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body.
      • vii. There is a need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practical speed, with another public body or among two or more District components having a substantial interest in the determination or in the request’s subject matter.
    • c. The District shall respond to those requests made for a commercial purpose within twenty-one (21) days.
    • d. The District shall charge fees for production of documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request as authorized by Section 6 of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/6.
    • e. Should the District determine to deny any request based on the exemptions authorized by this Policy and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the District shall communicate that denial in writing to the requestor. Any denial will include a statement advising the requestor that they can appeal the denial to the Office of the Public Access Counselor in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.