According to 5 ILCS 140 – Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), “Requests for inspection or copies shall be made in writing and directed to the public body. Written requests may be submitted to a public body via personal delivery, mail, telefax, or other means available to the public body.” This includes submitting a FOIA request via email to the public body.
5 ILCS 140 also states that “A public body may not require that a request be submitted on a standard form …” It is not necessary to use the form provided by a public body, and a public body is required by law to respond to requests stated in an email. Forms are usually burdensome, ask for unnecessary requester information (and web-forms may be used to collect user data), and may not provide the requester with proof of submission.
We suggest always submitting FOIA requests by email. No special language is needed, and a requester need not even mention “FOIA” or “Freedom of Information Act”. All that is required is that you ask for public records, which may include documents, emails, video, audio, text messages, and virtually anything that contains information.
Public bodies are not required to create documents which do not exist, or answer questions. However, the answer to a question can often be acquired by requesting the appropriate records. The public body is required to make a reasonable effort to locate records that fill your request.
Listed below are the email addresses for the FOIA officer or contact person for each public body.
| Entity | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| City of Urbana | Phyllis D Clark | CityClerk@urbanaillinois.us |
| City of Urbana FOIA Officer | Ross McNeil | remcneil@urbanaillinois.us |
| Urbana Police Department FOIA Officer | Anthony Weck | weckac@urbanaillinois.us |
| City of Champaign | Shannon Myers | foiocity@champaignil.gov |
| Champaign Police Department | Christene Miner | foiopolice@champaignil.gov |
| Champaign Fire Department (via City of Champaign) | Shannon Myers | foiocity@champaignil.gov |
| Champaign Public Library | FOIO Library | foiolibrary@champaign.org |
| Metcad | FOIO Metcad | foiometcad@champaignil.gov |
| Champaign-Urbana Public Health District | Patricia Robinson | probinson@c-uphd.org |
| Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District | FOIO MTD | FOIO@mtd.org |
| Illinois State Police | Sarah Wheeler | ISP.FOIA.Officer@illinois.gov |
| Illinois Attorney General | FOIA Officer | FOIAofficer@ilag.gov |
| University of Illinois | Kirsten Ruby | foia@uillinois.edu |
| Champaign County Departments | ||
| Administrative Services | Steve Summers | CountyFOIA@co.champaign.il.us |
| Animal Control | FOIA Officer | CountyFOIA@co.champaign.il.us |
| Auditor | George Danos | gdanos@co.champaign.il.us |
| Board of Health | Steve Summers | CountyFOIA@co.champaign.il.us |
| Board of Review | John Bergee | jbergee@co.champaign.il.us |
| Children's Advocacy Center | Kari May | kmay@co.champaign.il.us |
| Coroner | Duane Northrup | Dnorthrup@co.champaign.il.us |
| County Board | Kyle Patterson | CountyFOIA@co.champaign.il.us |
| County Clerk | Aaron Ammons | aammons@co.champaign.il.us |
| Emergency Management Agency | John Dwyer | jdwyer@co.champaign.il.us |
| Highway Department | Jeff Blue | jblue@co.champaign.il.us |
| Information Technology | M.C. Neal | mcneal@co.champaign.il.us |
| Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities Board | Stephanie Howard-Gallo | stephanie@ccmhb.org |
| Planning & Zoning | John Hall | jhall@co.champaign.il.us |
| Public Properties | Dana Brenner | dbrenner@co.champaign.il.us |
| Purchasing | Tami Ogden | CountyFOIA@co.champaign.il.us |
| Regional Planning Commission | Maurey Williamson | mwilliamson@ccrpc.org |
| Sheriff's Office (Law Enforcement) | Curt Apperson | sherifffoia@co.champaign.il.us |
| Sheriff's Office (Jail, Corrections) | Ryan Snyder | sherifffoia@co.champaign.il.us |
| Champaign County State's Attorney's Office | Julia Rietz | Jrietz@co.champaign.il.us |
| Champaign County State's Attorney's Office | Andrew Muller | amuller@co.champaign.il.us |
| Supervisor of Assessments | Paula Bates | pbates@co.champaign.il.us |
| Treasurer | Cassandra "CJ" Johnson | treasurer@co.champaign.il.us |
| Veterans Assistance Commission | Brad Gould | bgould@co.champaign.il.us |