Milton Township Operates “Nonprofit” With Public Funds, Self-Declares It A Private Entity Not Subject To FOIA –

Milton Township, Ill. (ECWd) –

Apparently, Milton Township thinks it can operate a “nonprofit” using township resources and self-declare the nonprofit as not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (and by extension, the Open Meetings Act) by claiming the “nonprofit” is not a public body (or a subsidiary public body).

If this were permitted in Illinois, imagine the damage that could be done in every local government state-wide by simply transfer everything to a nonprofit and declaring it a private, independent entity and not subject to any public accountability.

It their response to my second request for reconsideration, they claimed that operating a food pantry was not an inherent governmental function. We disagree, as townships are now authorized to operate food banks thanks to a change in law a few years ago – which makes it an inherent governmental function.

The Milton Township Food Pantry:

• Its board of directors are the Milton Township supervisor and township trustees
• It uses the Milton Township website
• It uses the Milton Township phone number
• It uses the Milton Township mailing address
• It uses the Milton Township building
• It uses the Milton Township vehicles (which most likely means it also uses Milton Township vehicle insurance)
• It uses Milton Township municipal vehicle license plates
• It uses the Milton Township employees/officers
• Its financial and other records are stored in the Milton Township treasurer’s office
• There are no contracts or other agreements between Milton Township and the food bank for the use of the township vehicles, building, phone number, website, mailing address, storage of records, or employees
• The Milton Township supervisor talks about the food pantry in her “90-day update” here:  https://youtu.be/_EJuoM9lQwY?si=1n2keOcpeVu8cc8S
• Past meeting minutes reflect reports on the Milton Township Food Bank operations

In a similar situation last year, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor issued a (nonbinding) determination that a nonprofit formed for the purpose of contracting with a local mass transit district was subject to the Open Meetings Act (and by extension the Freedom of Information Act) based on four criteria spelled out in the Better Government Ass’n v. Illinois High School Ass’n, lawsuit from 2017. Those four criteria are:

• the extent to which the entity has a legal existence independent of government resolution,
• the degree of government control exerted over the entity,
• the extent to which the entity is publicly funded, and
• the nature of the functions performed by the entity.

We will either file a FOIA lawsuit or ask the AG’s PAC to look at this issue, but we suspect either course of action will determine that the Milton Township Food Pantry in its current form (1) does not exist without the township, (2) is completely controlled by the township, (3) its operations are completely publicly funded (not counting the food donations), and (4) it is performing a legitimate governmental function.

We could be wrong, but with the information we currently have, we believe either path for a resolution of this issue will determine that the food pantry is a subsidiary public body of the township.