ORLAND PARK (ECWd) –
Is there something in the water up there in Orland Park? With all of the Freedom Of Information Act and Open Meetings Act violations of the Orland Park Public Library (OPPL), you would think the Village of Orland Park would research their responsibilities when it comes to FOIA, but that is not the case.
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When researching the police reports initiated by the OPPL, Megan Fox submitted a request to the village for public records, and also requested them in electronic format. Instead of simply complying with the request, Joe LaMargo, the Public Information Officer for Orland Park, insisted on providing the records in paper format, and telling her she had to personally come in and pick the paper copies up.
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These are both violations of the Freedom Of Information Act. The Act requires that if a public record is kept in an electronic format (which they are in this case) and the requester requested it in that format, it must be provided electronically. Notice how it doesn’t say it’s optional.
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Furthermore, the Act requires the public body to mail the records to the requester (or email). They cannot require them to be picked up in person, and they cannot make the requester pay for the postage. That’s not optional either.
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In light of the FOIA violations and denials, Megan has created another video depicting her experience the day she picked the public records up at the Village. Enjoy!
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4 Comments
Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries
Posted at 19:43h, 18 AprilI filed a FOIA request. I live in NJ. I got a response saying I could pick up the records. They know I live in NJ since they wrote new library policy to silence me personally since I sought to speak at a board meeting via Skype. I wanted to explain how ALA intentionally misleads on porn in libraries. So they know I’m in Jersey yet they required me to pick up the records myself.
jmkraft
Posted at 19:47h, 18 AprilThey violated FOIA by requiring that.
Mack Malone
Posted at 11:34h, 03 MayHey thanks for filing all of these so the village has to spend our tax dollars answering this. Can you get another hobby? Go to another library which has a policy that is more in tune with your particular obsession.
jmkraft
Posted at 12:29h, 03 MayIt’s quite obvious that you have never read the Freedom Of Information Act: “The General Assembly declares that providing records in compliance with the requirements of this Act is a primary duty of public bodies to the people of this State, and this Act should be construed to this end, fiscal obligations notwithstanding.”
OR – you are someone that has something to hide and try to keep from providing records according to law.
You are welcome. I’m glad to be of service…even to you.