FAQ's

The following procedures are implemented by the City of Evanston pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) amendments, effective January 1, 2010.

 

Under the Act, City Clerk (Stephanie Mendoza) is the designated FOIA Officer for the City of Evanston. The other FOIA Officers for the City of Evanston Corporate Council, Alexandra Ruggie, and Kina Robinson.

All requests for non-exempt information must be responded to within five(5) working days after the receipt of the written request, unless additional time is required, as allowed by the Act. If an extension is required, the requester must be notified by mail, email or phone within five (5) days. Requests for a commercial purpose will be responded to within twenty-one (21) working days. You must disclose whether your request is for a commercial purpose. It violates the Freedom of Information Act for a person to knowingly obtain a public record for a commercial purpose without disclosing that it is for a commercial purpose, if requested by the public body. 5 ILCS 140.3.1(c)).

Next Request (Open Public Records)

How To Submit A Request:

NOTE: All requests for public records will be submitted to Next Request by the Evanston City Clerk's office.

City of Evanston FOIA Policy

The City of Evanston does not retain records regarding the Police or Firefighter’s Pension Board materials. All FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests regarding Police or Firefighter’s Pension Board materials should be submitted directly to the Public Information Officer of the Fund:

Timothy Schoolmaster

Trustee & President Evanston Police Pension Fund

1454 Elmwood Avenue

Evanston, IL 60201

        or

Deron Daugherty

Trustee & President Evanston Firefighter’s Pension Fund

702 Madison St

Evanston, IL 60202

Record Copy Services Attorney and Insurance Companies Fee:

Unredacted Traffic/Incident Reports are $5 dollars. Reports will not be received until payments are made. Invoices will be provided within FOIA request. Please visit the following website for further instructions. Proceed to the Traffic/Crash Report Request tab.

Public Fees:

(only applies to hard copies)

  • The first fifty (50) pages are free
  • Any page(s) after the first fifty (50) will be $.15 per page
  • The certification fee for FOIA records is $1.00
  • The cost to produce the document only includes:
  • DUI report (driving under the influence)
  • Ambulance report
  • Fire/Incident report
  • Audiotapes and videotapes
  • CD 
  • Photographs
  • Transcript from the Hearings Division 
  • The charge to a requestor for copies of any abnormal-size document is the actual cost to produce that document.
  • Notary Service: $2.00 per Notarized document
  • Requestors seeking unredacted copies of records must provide verification sufficient to prove eligibility to receive such records.

NOTICE:

AS OF SEPT 16, 2024: FEES

RECORD COPY SERVICES, ATTORNEYS & INSURANCE COMPANIES AND COMMERICAL AGENTS:

All Request for Reports are $5.00 Dollars. (i.e. DUI, Arrest, Incident, Accident, etc.) and are to be made via the website and following the step-by-step instructions. This FOIA will be paused and released once payment is received.

Filing An Appeal

The City Manager's Office will no longer handle appeals for denials as of January 01, 2010. All appeals must be submitted to the PAC Officer within 60 calendar days after the denial of the FOIA request. Address your request to Leah Bartelt, Public Access Counselor, Office of the Attorney General, 500 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62706. (877) 299-3642 public.access@ilag.gov