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October 28, 2020

feature, Wesley Township, Will County

Wesley Township's new Clerk not answering FOIAs
BY John Kraft & Kirk Allen
ON August 2, 2018

WESLEY TOWNSHIP, IL. (ECWd) -

It appears the newly appointed Wesley Township Clerk, Sarah Norton, is not performing the functions appointed to her position as the official Wesley Township Freedom of Information Act Officer.

A request for a public record under the FOIA was sent to the Township on July 15, 2018, and was never responded to.

When a follow-up email was sent, this was the clerk's response from yesterday (August 1st):

I am sorry your FOIA request wasn't answered in a timely manor. I have been out of town and did not receive this request before I left town. I am not do back for a few weeks, I will look into all you asked for as soon as I return.

Sarah Norton

Wesley Township Clerk

The Freedom of Information Act's mandated 5-day response time does not state "unless you are on vacation" - no - it states 5 business days after receipt, and when email is used to submit an FOIA request, it is considered received when the requester sends the email - not when the public body decides to open the email and read it.

This is unacceptable for any public body and places it in the position of being sued for violating the FOIA. Additionally, there are other officials/employees of the township who can properly respond and have not done so.

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4 Comments
  • jannie
    Posted at 11:14h, 02 August

    yes, wondering also why others aren’t answering the FOIA Request. Does everything just “stop” when this person is on vacation? How many weeks does this Clerk get off? Does this mean nothing gets done in those weeks?

    • Cindy
      Posted at 12:18h, 02 August

      It’s a sad sad situation in Wesley Township They lost the first two clerks six months in because Supervisor keeps all the records under lock and key. Calls herself the RISK MANAGEMENT and WHOLE ENCHILDA Sadly they appoint this girl a month ago and is now on vacation for weeks? Exactly what are our tax dollars paying for. thank GOD for Kirk and John

    • Lisa
      Posted at 12:53h, 02 August

      This township administration does few things within the bounds of law. They will go down as the worst and seemingly the most corrupt in Wesley history.

  • Danni Smith
    Posted at 21:49h, 02 August

    those overworked and underpaid gubguys-need a vaca of weeks after a few hours-let’s see those paychecks, too, while we a FOIAing.

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4 Comments
  • jannie
    Posted at 11:14h, 02 August

    yes, wondering also why others aren’t answering the FOIA Request. Does everything just “stop” when this person is on vacation? How many weeks does this Clerk get off? Does this mean nothing gets done in those weeks?

    • Cindy
      Posted at 12:18h, 02 August

      It’s a sad sad situation in Wesley Township They lost the first two clerks six months in because Supervisor keeps all the records under lock and key. Calls herself the RISK MANAGEMENT and WHOLE ENCHILDA Sadly they appoint this girl a month ago and is now on vacation for weeks? Exactly what are our tax dollars paying for. thank GOD for Kirk and John

    • Lisa
      Posted at 12:53h, 02 August

      This township administration does few things within the bounds of law. They will go down as the worst and seemingly the most corrupt in Wesley history.

  • Danni Smith
    Posted at 21:49h, 02 August

    those overworked and underpaid gubguys-need a vaca of weeks after a few hours-let’s see those paychecks, too, while we a FOIAing.