From a reader:
Please post the article, now that this is public info. The readers need to be made aware of how an incompetent board can destroy our volunteer fire department, believing they are above the law and rule with an iron fist. Thank You for being supportive of our cause!
Lisbon Seward Fire Protection District has been accused of violating the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, by a donation-driven downstate watchdog group.
Edgar County Watchdogs filed a complaint through their lawyer on June 14, saying the fire protection district knowingly and willfully violated FOIA, according to Kendall County court records.
The complaint said the fire district did not respond to an initial FOIA request sent to two email addresses said to be affiliated with the fire district on Aug. 5, 2018. They said ReadNotify receipts show the email from one address was opened twice by one reader and the email to another address was forwarded to another person and opened eight times total by two readers, court records said.
The group asked in the Aug. 5, 2018 request for all Open Meetings Act training certificates for trustees of the fire protection district and committee board members such as the ambulance board and a copy of the FOIA training certificate for the district’s FOIA officer. The request also included the last 12 months of bank statements to include all pages, a copy of the last two years of all credit card statements for any cards used by the fire district or ambulance, the last budget approved by the board and the last audit completed by the fire district. The group also requested copies of minutes where the board appointed or contracted with a fire chief of the district and copies of all contractual obligations the fire district has had for the last three years.
The complaint also said the group filed another FOIA request on Sept. 10, 2018, which was sent via certified mail, that added the request of all email addresses used by the trustees for the fire protection district and any district employees.
Counsel for Edgar County Watchdogs said in the complaint that then-board trustee Scott Steffes signed the return receipt request on Sept. 12, 2018 and called the group two weeks later. The complaint said Steffes told the group he was unfamiliar with FOIA and it would take time to respond to the request, since no one at the public body is paid.
According to the complaint, the watchdog group received records on Oct. 8, 2018. The group said the records included some of the requested materials but not all, including the list of email addresses, the meeting minutes, the contractual obligations, the FOIA officer training certificate and the credit card statements. The group did not receive any explanation as to why those records were not produced, court records said.
The complaint said the group did not receive the last 12 months of bank statements back from September 2018, but were provided statements from June 1, 2015 through Feb. 28, 2017 for one account and statements from Dec. 2, 2015 through Feb. 1, 2017 for a second account. It also said the group requested a copy of the last audit completed for the district and instead received two annual financial reports filed with the Illinois comptroller.
The watchdog group argued the fire district failed to comply by not responding within five business days of each request and the inaction from the first request implies a denial of request of records that were not exempt from being subject to FOIA, according to court records. The group is requesting the court to expedite the case, declare that the fire district violated FOIA, order the fire district to produce the requested records, enjoin the fire district from withholding non-exempt public records under FOIA, order the fire district to pay civil penalties and to award the group attorney’s fees and costs.
As of 2:45 p.m. Thursday, July 11, there was no listed defense attorney for the fire protection district in this case within Kendall County court documents.
The fire protection district covers about 65 square miles, including most of Lisbon Township and portions of Big Grove, Na-Au-Say, and Seward townships. The district has two stations in Plattville and Lisbon, along with two fire chiefs, Tim Wallace and Patrick Pope.
#1 by Austin on July 19, 2019 - 8:24 PM
Tim, that isn’t 100% true. It was bought, but not by the district. It was donated to the department by another party. So as I said it WAS donated to the department. I did make a mistake in saying Orland donated it, but it was still very much donated to the department. This has been discussed on this site for some time
#2 by ScottMichaels on July 18, 2019 - 11:26 PM
What it sounds like to me is some internal strife. Someone within the department is not getting what they want. They know some rules are being “bent” and they are using FOIA as double edge sword. Expose what ever they think is wrong and to hopefully get what they want. What is the call volume for Lisbon Seward? For the sake of taxpayers just shut down and let some other fire department take y over. At least youll get an ambulance in your district full time.
#3 by Tim on July 18, 2019 - 9:10 PM
The Orland snorkel was not donated. It was sold outright.
#4 by Drew Smith on July 18, 2019 - 8:23 PM
As mentioned, this request was made in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It is then alleged that the response (or lack of one) is not in compliance with the law. This law is not difficult to comply with. It may require a significant amount of time to gather and respond to a request. While the law requires a response within five business days, the response may be a denial of the request (in whole or part), a request for clarification, or a statement that the request will be responded to in ten versus five days as more time is needed. The request for nine categories of records, some of which contain two or three years of information (some of which may need personally identifiable info such as bank account numbers redacted) may also be seen as “voluminous” and then subject to other rules. Also, no public body is required to assemble or create records or documents that do not exist. For example, if someone wanted to know the total amount spent on lightbulbs and the FPD simple pays a single bill from say Ace Hardware, then the FPD does not have to go find all those bills, select out the ones with lightbulbs, and create a tally of those costs. Equally, if the FPD does not have its own credit cards then a request for such records cannot be fulfilled.
For a small organization, this may be an imposition but competent legal counsel can advise and manage the response. Any FPD board that does not engage an attorney to advise them on these and other matters related to the FPD’s operation isn’t fulfilling their fiduciary duty as a board.
It is the public body (the Board of Trustees of the FPD) that must comply with the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and FOIA and not the Volunteer FD. In fact, if the VFD is a private corporation under contract to the FPD then certain records and documents may not be subject to the FOIA.
A request for OMA and FOIA training certificates, the budget (which is required to be published in a newspaper), the audit (which must be filed with the county), and the minutes of its meetings (which the OMA requires) should be easily and readily producible by the board and not the VFD with little effort and minimal expense. As for bank statements, credit card statements, and contracts, that may be another story.
All members of a public body (a trustee of a fire protection district board) must take OMA training once within six months of being appointed or elected to office.
General public training can be found here http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/Training.aspx
Members of a public body must complete their training here http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/Default.aspx in order to receive a certificate.
For those interested:
The full OMA can be found here http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=84&ChapterID=2
The full FOIA can be found here http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=85&ChapterID=2
#5 by Austin on July 18, 2019 - 7:56 PM
Dan, not sure if you have followed the drama with this department, but it actually is the board who is destroying the department. As an example Orland donated their old Snorkel to them, but the board basically said no, we don’t want it. Even though the department desperately needs a good piece of apparatus. The law is the law, and FOIA was not handled in accordance to the law. The only party at fault is the board.
#6 by Dan on July 18, 2019 - 2:52 PM
Seems to me like this group is out to destroy the fire department. They requested about a dozen records and then wanted them within 5 days. They then hire a lawyer and go to court to get their way. It doesn’t seem that they want to work with the fire department.
They expect a volunteer fire department and its members to drop what they are doing to get paperwork for this group.