VALPARAISO â While the mayor s office has the discretion to withhold data for a residential market study from City Councilman Robert Cotton, the state public access counselor said his office is unsure that this is the right course of action in this instance. Therefore, it requests the City reevaluate its decision to share the contents of the study with a city council member before its release to the public, Public Access Counselor Luke Britt said in his written opinion.
Cotton filed a complaint Dec. 28 with the public access counselor, claiming city administrators are wrongly denying him, as a council member, access to the data that has come in so far as part of a $50,000 taxpayer-funded study.
Public access counselor advises Valparaiso to reevaluate decision to withhold housing data from council member chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A special Highland Town Council meeting called to approve zoning-map changes to the 19-acre property north of Griffland Center was legal, the state’s Public Access Counselor has ruled.
PEORIA
Peoria County needs to explain why information regarding restaurants’ possible violations of indoor dining rules aren t being released to the public, said an attorney with the Illinois Press Association.
Don Craven, who has spent years working with the state s Freedom of Information Act, said the burden is not on the media or public to explain why they want the records, but rather on the county itself to say why the records shouldn t be released. And the Springfield attorney explained why there may be a “hodgepodge” of different practices around the state.
His comments come after Peoria County officials earlier this month denied both a Journal Star reporter s request and a Freedom of Information Act filing by the paper seeking the names of restaurants and bars submitted by citizens through the Health Department s complaint process, and whether they have received citations by the Health Department or been referred to State s Attorney Jodi Hoos for enforcement of an