Disappearances/missing persons in Rosemont

Dear Mr. Smith:

This firm serves as attorneys for the Village of Rosemont. This letter is being written on behalf of the Village of Rosemont in response to your request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") that was received by the Village on October 16, 2017. You requested "Documents sufficient to show the number of people who have gone missing in the Village of Rosemont (or persons who resided in the Village of Rosemont), to the best of the Village's knowledge, for each year during the calendar years of 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and what has elapsed of 2017."

Attached should be a copy the records that are responsive to your request from the time period of Jan. 1, 2014 through September 15, 2017, with redactions of certain private information, personal information the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy pursuant to Sections 7(1)(b)-(c) of FOIA, as well as redactions of the identity of a confidential source or persons who file complaints with or provide information to law enforcement pursuant to Section 7(1)(d)(iv) of FOIA.

Additionally, please be advised that your request seeks information pertaining to one matter which is currently an open and pending investigation. The Village does not create a "report" until it has completed its investigation. Accordingly, there are no records currently in existence that would be responsive to your request as it pertains to this pending investigation. Furthermore, any such "record" related to the pending investigation would be exempt from disclosure pursuant to Sections 7(1)(b), 7(1)(c), 7(1)(d)(i)-(vii), and 7(1)(f) of FOIA.

Furthermore, with respect to your request for records during the time period of the year 2013 and the last month (from September 16, 2017 to October 16, 2017), please advise me if you are willing to modify your request to exclude said time periods. If you are not willing to modify your request accordingly, the Village is extending the time for responding to your FOIA request for an additional five (5) business days so that the time for the Village's response is extended from October 23 to October 30, 2017 pursuant to Section 3(e) of the FOIA. The reason for this extension is that: (1) your request requires the examination and/or collection of a potentially substantial number of records, including records that are still in the process of being created because this matter involves an on-going criminal investigation; (2) the requested records require examination and evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions; and (3) the request cannot be complied with by the Village of Rosemont within the time limits prescribed by the FOIA without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body.

To the extent that your FOIA request is being denied, the person responsible for the denial is Matthew Rose, who is one of the Village's attorneys.

To the extent that your FOIA request is being denied, you have the right to have the denial reviewed by the Public Access Counselor at the office of the Illinois Attorney General. The Public Access Counselor's address and telephone number are as follows:

Public Access Counselor
Office of the Illinois Attorney General
500 South Second Street
Springfield, Illinois 62706
Phone: 312.814.5526
Fax: 217.782.1396
E-mail: publicaccess@atg.state.il.us<mailto:publicaccess@atg.state.il.us>

Any request for review by the Public Access Counselor must be filed no later than sixty (60) days after the date of the denial of your FOIA request. You also have the right to seek judicial review of the denial of your FOIA request pursuant to Section 11 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours truly,

Matthew D. Rose
Rosenthal, Murphey, Coblentz & Donahue
30 N. LaSalle St., Ste. 1624
Chicago, IL 60602