Important — Cyber Security Notice
Due to cyber security concerns, Village of McCook officials and employees will not open or respond to attachments, files, or hyperlinks submitted as part of a FOIA request.
Please copy any requests for public records in the body of an email and submit to the FOIA officer at [email protected]. Your FOIA request cannot be processed until this step is completed.
FOIA Officer
McCook, IL 60525
Phone: 708-447-9030
Fax: 708-447-2584
[email protected]
Village of McCook
5000 Glencoe AvenueMcCook, IL 60525
Phone: 708-447-9030
Fax: 708-447-2584
[email protected]
Fee Schedule
Certifying a document: $1.00 each document
Copies: $0.15 per page after the first 50 black & white, letter or legal sized copies
Freedom of Information Act
The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act is to ensure that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government, and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials.
The principal mandate of the Act provides that each public body shall make available to any person for inspection, or upon submission of a written request, copies of any requested records that are subject to disclosure under the Act. Not all records are subject to disclosure, and the Act provides a number of exemptions.
This Act is not intended to be used to violate individual privacy, nor for the purpose of furthering a commercial enterprise, or to disrupt the duly-undertaken work of any public body independent of the fulfillment of any of the rights of the people to access information (5 ILCS 140/1).
Request Procedures
Records requests must be made in writing and directed to the public body. The written request may be submitted in person, by mail, by telefax, email, or any other delivery method available to the public body. A Freedom of Information form is available for your convenience upon request at the front office or at villageofmccook.org (opens in new tab) under the Directory tab.
Village Hall
Fax
708-447-2584
Police Non-Emergency
Fire Non-Emergency
Freedom of Information Officers
The following are the information officers for the Village:
Fees for Records
- For black and white, letter or legal sized copies — the first 50 pages are free; additional pages may not exceed $0.15 per page.
- For color or abnormal sized copies — the municipality may charge the actual cost of copying.
- For electronic copies — charges are limited to the actual cost of the recording medium (tape, CD, disk, etc.).
- The municipality may not charge more than $1.00 for certifying a record.
- For commercial FOIA requests — a public body may charge up to $10 per hour for personnel time spent searching and retrieving records, except that no fees shall be charged for the first eight hours. An accounting of all fees, costs, and personnel hours must be provided to the requester.
Response Time of FOIA Requests
All written requests shall be responded to within five (5) working days following the date the request is received, except when the request is for commercial purposes (5 ILCS/140/3). The five (5) day count begins the day after receipt of the FOIA request by the FOIA Officer.
Within 21 working days of receiving a request for commercial purposes the Village of McCook will:
- Provide a reasonable estimate of time needed to comply with the request, along with an estimate of fees to be charged
- Deny the request pursuant to a statutory exemption
- Notify the requestor if the request is unduly burdensome and allow the requestor to revise the request to manageable proportions
- Provide the requested records
The requester may be notified of a five (5) day extension (working days) if the files are voluminous, at different locations, or if other reasons make it impossible to assemble and mail the request within the normal five (5) day period.
Denial of FOIA Request
Information provided or denied under FOIA must conform to the legal requirements under the Act. Certain documents may be exempt from disclosure pursuant to specific sections of the Freedom of Information Act.
When a public body denies a request for public records, that body must, within five (5) working days, notify the person who made the request by letter of the decision to deny the request. The letter must explain the reasons for the denial.
Appeal of Denial of FOIA Request
Any person denied access to inspect or copy any public record may appeal the denial by sending a written notice of appeal to the Public Access Counselor at the following address:
Leah Barlett, Public Access Counselor Office of the Attorney General500 S. 2nd Street
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 877-299-3642
Fax: 217-782-1396
Email: [email protected]
Recurrent Requesters
Under P.A. 97-0579, Section 2(g) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140-2(g)), a public body may consider a person to be a "recurrent requester" and may take additional time to respond if the person has submitted to the same public body:
- A minimum of 50 requests for records in the 12 months immediately preceding a FOIA request
- A minimum of 15 requests for records within the 30-day period immediately preceding a FOIA request
- A minimum of 7 requests for records within the 7-day period immediately preceding a FOIA request
Within 5 business days of receiving a FOIA request from a recurrent requester, a public body shall notify the requester that the request is being treated as a recurrent request, why it is being treated as such, and that an initial response will be sent within 21 business days.
A public body shall respond to a FOIA request from a recurrent requester within 21 business days by providing an estimate of time and fees, denying the request, notifying if unduly burdensome, or providing the records. Unless records are exempt, a public body shall comply within a reasonable period considering the size and complexity of the request.
Voluminous Request Rule
A "voluminous request" is defined as a request that:
- Includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different categories of records, or a combination of individual requests totaling more than 5 different categories of records in a period of 20 business days
- Requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of public records, unless a single requested record exceeds 500 pages