FOIA

Freedom of Information Act
Plainfield Township
Plainfield, Will County, Illinois

All public records in Plainfield Township are available to any person for inspection or copying, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. For information related to the public’s rights under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, please visit the Illinois Attorney General website.

Commonly requested information is available on the transparency page of this site. Assessor property information is available through the search page.

FOIA Officers

Township

Assessor’s Office

Highway Department

FOIA Requests

All requests to inspect, copy, or certify public records must be in writing, directed to the Township and submitted via personal delivery, mail, email, fax, or other means available to the Township in accordance with Section 3(c) of the Act. The Township prefers that a Requestor use this Request Form, submitted to the attention of the Freedom of Information Officer at the Township’s primary address at 22525 W. Lockport St., Plainfield, Illinois, 60544, but the Township will honor all requests lawfully submitted to the Township even if it is not submitted on the preferred form. Any written request submitted to the Township for a public record shall be deemed to be a FOIA request and treated accordingly.

To facilitate the receipt and processing of Requests, the Township shall establish an email address dedicated to such FOIA requests and said email account shall be monitored daily by one or more FOIA Officers.

The Township will respond to any FOIA Request properly submitted within five working days after the Request is received by the Township.  All responses and decisions required to be issued by the Township pursuant to the Act or will be conclusively deemed to have been given as of the date of personal delivery to the Requestor or to the residence of the Requestor entitled to a response or decision or, if mailed, as of the date of mailing, regardless of the date of actual receipt by the Requestor.

The Township will not accept any oral request for inspection or copying, other than property cards at discretion of the Plainfield Township Assessor.

Requests for Records to be Used for Commercial Purpose

The Township shall respond to a request for records to be used for a commercial purpose within 21 working days after receipt. In accordance with Section 3.1(a) of the Act, the response shall (i) provide  the Requestor an estimate of the time required by the Township to provide the records requested and an estimate of the fees to be charged, which the Township may require the Requestor to pay in full before copying the requested documents, (ii) deny the request pursuant to a lawful exemption; (iii) notify the Requestor that the request is unduly burdensome and extend an opportunity to the Requestor to attempt to reduce the Request to manageable proportions, or (iv) provide the records requested. Unless the records are exempt from disclosure, the   Township shall comply with a request within a reasonable period of time considering the size and complexity of the request, giving priority to records requested for non-commercial purposes. It is a violation of the Act for a person to knowingly obtain public records for a commercial purpose without disclosing it is for a commercial purpose.

Fees Established

There will be no charge for the first 50 pages of letter or legal size black and white copies for a Requester, except for Requests for commercial purposes. When the services of an outside vendor are required to copy a public record, the actual reasonable charges of the outside vendor will be the fees for copying such records.

Any request for fee waiver or reduction must be indicated on the Request Form at the time the Request Form is filed. A fee waiver or reduction will be considered to be in the public interest only if the principal purpose of the request is to disseminate information regarding the public health, safety, and welfare or the legal rights of the general public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or commercial benefit to the Requestor. The FOIA Officer may consider the number of requested public records and the cost and necessity of copying them in setting the fee waiver or reduction amount.

Unless fees are waived or reduced each Requester must pay the following fees for copying, certification, and mailing of public records, which the Township has determined to be reasonably calculated to reimburse its actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records and for the use, by any person, of the equipment of the Township to copy records:

Copies – letter or legal                       $0.15 per side

Copies – color or oversize                 Actual cost of reproduction

Certification                                        $1.00 per document plus copy cost

Mailing                                                 Actual cost of postage

Statutory Fees                                     Fees otherwise fixed by statute will be imposed at the rates authorized by the statute

Method and Time of Payment

Payment of all required fees must be made in cash, by cashier’s or certified check, or by money order prior to the examination, copying, or certification prior to the release of any public record.

Contact Information

Township

  • Address: 22525 W Lockport St. Plainfield, Illinois  60544
  • Phone: 815.436.8308
  • Fax 815.436.7050
  • Email: feedback@plainfield-township.com
  • Office hours: Monday – Friday 8:00am – 4:00pm

Assessor

  • Address: 22525 W. Lockport St. Plainfield, Illinois 60544
  • Phone: 815.436.5110
  • Email: foia@plainfieldassessor.com
  • Office Hours: Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Highway Department

  • Address: 22525 W. Lockport St. Plainfield, Illinois 60544
  • Phone: 815.436.6090
  • Email: mcarroll@plainfield-township.com
  • Office Hours: Monday – Friday: 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.