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News
County reviews new Freedom of Information rules : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisCounty reviews new Freedom of Information rules
| by Matt Schury
| 1/14/2010
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New Freedom of Information Act laws in Illinois went into effect last week that will dictate how much the public will pay for copies of public records.
Beginning Jan. 1, Kendall County, like other public agencies in the state, must follow the document charges listed in the law.
Public entities cannot charge for the first 50 pages of black and white letter or legal sized copies of public records, the law states. After 50 pages, they can charge 15 cents per page.
Color copies and other odd-sized copies-letter up to pages 11 by 17 inches-can cost the public 50 cents per page for the first 500 pages and 45 cents for each additional page.
Meanwhile, black and white copies measuring 24 by 36 inches are a $1 per page. Color copies of 24 by 36 inches and other oversized copies are outsourced so Kendall County would charge the cost to get those copies.
Electronic copies can be provided on disc, tape-cassette, compact disc, or any other recording medium and counties can't charge more than the actual cost of the disc or recorded medium.
"You can't charge for the time to compile it or do all the other stuff; it's the cost of the medium itself," Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis said.
However, the law excludes public records that are dictated by state statute.
"That overrides anything under FOIA," Weis explained.
For example, Weis said that the County Assessor clerk's costs are set by statute.
The County Board adopted the changes for all non-elected county departments during their meeting last week. Approval came in an 8-2 vote, with Board members John Purcell and John Shaw casting negative ballots.
Weis explained that the law doesn't include elected officials.
"The county has to adopt a copying cost. Elected officials can either choose to follow that copying cost amount, they can choose their own, but the county has to have one," Weis said.
Purcell said he had concerns that if the board chose to adopt the changes, but an elected official decided to accept something different, that it might be sending a conflicting message to the public
"And I think that you might get an irate individual and they will be screaming at the elected official and they are going to scream at us," Purcell said.
Board member Bob Davidson responded to Purcell saying elected officials can set their own fees for things that are not dictated by statute.
"I don't see how it makes any difference, John. The elected official has the right to change it if they want or they can go by our numbers," Davidson said.
Purcell insisted that he was not quibbling with the rights of elected officials.
"I'm just saying that it sets a bad perception for the public and if you don't care about public perception that's your prerogative," Purcell said.
Purcell added that he felt in the past the fees have been too high.
"In the past we've had an issue where we are charging, in my mind, unfair fees for people to get copies of information by disc-I've brought this up several times," Purcell said. "If somebody wants a copy of something that is public information, we should give it to them for the cost of a disc and not make money."
As for what the elected officials-including the treasurer, clerk, circuit clerk, state's attorney, coroner and sheriff- might do, Weis said it makes sense to follow the guideline.
"My guess is all the elected officials are going to adopt this anyway because I don't think the six of us care to deviate from it," he suggested. "But I don't want to speak for the other five elected officials."
Board member Nancy Martin wanted to know if the county had to prove its costs.
"We're saying this is what it costs us. Do we have to have something that shows that?" Martin asked.
Weis said that it is not based on the time spent but the actual cost of the medium to the county.
"Whatever a disc costs, that's what you can charge," Weis concluded.
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