Pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/6 the Bremen Township has the authority to charge reasonable fees for the duplication and/or certification of public records produced in compliance with FOIA requests. The FOIA officer is given the authority to grant a waiver or reduction of fees for copying records if the requester’s stated purpose is to obtain information regarding the health, safety, and welfare of the general public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or commercial benefit. In determining the amount of any such waiver or fee reduction the Township will also consider the number of records requested and the actual costs of copying.
For each request form filed, citizens shall be furnished with the first fifty (50) pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies at no charge. Fees will not be waived for the first fifty (50) pages of color copies or copies (either black and white or color) exceeding 8 ½ x 14” unless a waiver or fee reduction is granted by the FOIA officer as a means of furthering the public interest. The FOIA officer shall cause records maintained in electronic format to be furnished to be furnished to a requester in the electronic format specified by the requester, if feasible. The FOIA officer may charge the requester for the actual cost of purchasing the recording medium, whether disc, diskette, tape, or other medium.
Unless otherwise waived, copying fees must be paid in advance of the records being made available to the requester. Fees are as follows:
Product | Fee |
8.5″ x 11″ documents | $0.15/page |
8.5″ x 14″ documents | $0.15/page |
Fees to copy blueprints, oversized documents, pamphlets, manuals and any other records which are to be copied by an outside service shall be based on the actual costs incurred by the Township, which actual costs shall not be deemed to include “the costs of any search for and review of the records or other personnel costs associated with reproduction of the records.” See 5 ILCS 140/6(b). Information regarding these fees will be provided to the requester before copying. Additional fees for accident records may apply as permitted by law.