AUTHORITY: Implementing Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act [5 ILCS 140/4] and Section 5-15 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act [5 ILCS 100/5-15] and authorized by Section 3g of the Freedom of Information Act [5 ILCS 140/3g] and Section 10 of the Toll Highway Act [605 ILCS 10/10].

SOURCE: Adopted at 28 Ill. Reg. 15492, effective November 22, 2004.

SUBPART A: ORGANIZATION

 

Section 3400.10  Organization

 

The Illinois Toll Highway Authority (Tollway) has eleven directors. The Governor and the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation are ex officio directors. The Governor appoints nine directors with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Tollway has the following departments:

 

a)         Administration – Responsible for the development and implementation of, and employee adherence to, administrative policies and procedures.  The department also serves as the key contact for employee relations.

 

b)         Communications and Marketing − Responsible for all external and internal communications between the Tollway and its constituents who include customers, news media, elected and appointed officials, the general public and employees. 

 

c)         Engineering − Responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the roadway.

 

d)         Finance − Responsible for all general accounting, budgeting, treasury functions, financial reporting, accounts payable, major contract review/management, payroll, risk management and cash handling.  In addition, Finance manages all cash and investment analysis. 

 

e)         Illinois State Police-District 15 − A separate contingent of the Illinois State Police that provides law enforcement to the entire Tollway System, patrols the Tollway System to assist disabled motorists and provides special details for overweight vehicles and toll collection operations.

 

f)         Information Technology − Responsible for leading, managing, directing, planning and controlling all information technologies and telecommunications, and providing strategic guidance and user/client services to the Tollway.

 

g)         Inspector General − Responsible for investigating all instances of waste, inefficiencies, fraud, corruption, misconduct and mismanagement in the day to day operations of the Tollway.  Additionally, the Inspector General recommends policies and procedures to ensure that the Tollway's Board members and employees, contractors and/or vendors adhere to all State and federal laws, as well as internal rules and regulations. 

 

h)         Legal − The Law Division is a Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Illinois assigned to provide legal services to the Tollway.

 

i)          Operational Services − Responsible for providing the necessary resources and services to maintain the Authority's operations and facilities, as well as managing the collection and counting of tolls.  The department's responsibilities include the customer service associated with the issuance of I-PASS transponders.

 

j)          Planning − Responsible for developing and implementing the Long-Range Capital Plan and the on-going capital programming for the Tollway.  It also coordinates with community groups, government agencies, and planning organizations on transportation and land use policy focusing on better integration and coordination.

SUBPART B: REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION AND FORM OF REQUEST

 

Section 3400.110  Requests for Public Records

 

Requests for public records shall be submitted to:

 

Freedom of Information Officer

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority

2700 Ogden Avenue

Downers Grove IL  60515

(630) 241-6800

Facsimile (630) 271-7559

 

Section 3400.120  Form and Content of Requests

 

a)         Requests for public records shall be in writing, excluding e-mail.

 

b)         The request for public records must include the following information:

 

1)         The requestor's full name, address and telephone number.

 

2)         A description of the public records sought, being as specific as possible.

 

3)         A statement of whether the request is for inspection of public records, copies of public records, or both.

 

Section 3400.130  Timeline for Freedom of Information Officer's Response

 

a)         The Freedom of Information Officer shall respond to a written request for public records within 7 working days after the receipt of a request pursuant to Section 3(a) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [5 ILCS 140/3(a)].

 

b)         The Freedom of Information Officer will either comply with or deny a written request for public records within 7 working days after its receipt.  The Freedom of Information Officer may extend the 7 day period an additional 7 working days for any of the reasons specified in Section 3(d)(vii) of FOIA.  The Freedom of Information Officer will notify by letter the person making the written request within 7 working days (after receipt of the request) of the reasons for the delay and the date by which the records will be made available or denial will be forthcoming.

 

Section  3400.140  Types of Responses to Requests for Public Records

 

a)         The Freedom of Information Officer shall respond to a request for public information in writing, in one of three ways:

 

1)         Approve the request.

 

2)         Approve in part and deny in part.

 

3)         Deny the request.

 

b)         The response shall be signed by the Freedom of Information Officer.

 

c)         Upon approval of a request for public records, the Freedom of Information Officer shall either provide the materials immediately, give notice that materials shall be made available upon payment of reproduction costs, give notice of the time and place for inspection of records, or request that the requestor contact the Freedom of Information Officer to schedule a time and place for the inspection of records.

 

d)         Categorical requests considered by the Freedom of Information Officer to be unduly burdensome shall be denied pursuant to Section 3(f) of FOIA.  Before making this determination, the Freedom of Information Officer shall provide an opportunity to the requestor to confer and reduce the request to manageable proportions.  The Freedom of Information Officer shall consider a request to be unduly burdensome if the burden on the Tollway outweighs the public interest in the information.  Repeated requests for the same public records by the same person shall be deemed unduly burdensome.

 

e)         A denial of a request for public records shall be made in writing and shall state the reasons for the denial and the names and titles of the individuals responsible for the decision pursuant to Section 9(a) of FOIA.  Denials of requests determined to be unduly burdensome shall also explain the extent to which compliance with the request would unduly burden the operations of the Tollway pursuant to Section 3(f) of FOIA.  Each notice of denial shall inform the requestor of his/her right to appeal to the Executive Director of the Tollway.

 

f)         Failure to respond to a written request within 7 workings days after its receipt by the Executive Director of the Tollway may be considered by the requestor to be a denial of the request.  [5 ILCS 140/3]

 

Section 3400.150  Appeal of a Denial

 

a)         A requestor whose request has been denied by the Freedom of Information Officer may appeal the denial to the Executive Director of the Tollway pursuant to Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act.  The notice of appeal shall be made in writing and sent to:

 

Executive Director

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority

2700 Ogden Avenue

Downers Grove IL  60515-1703

 

b)         The notice of appeal shall include a copy of the original request, a copy of the denial received by the requestor and a statement of the reasons why the appeal should be granted.  If the appeal is filed because the requestor did not receive a response to a written request for information, the notice of appeal shall state that this is the reason for the appeal.

 

Section 3400.160  Executive Director's Response to Appeal

 

a)         Upon receipt of the notice of appeal, the Executive Director of the Tollway shall review the public records requested and shall determine whether those record are available for public inspection and copying.  The Executive Director shall notify the person making the appeal of his or her determination within 7 working days after the notice of appeal is received pursuant to Section 10(a) of FOIA.

 

b)         If the Executive Director determines the public record is exempt from public inspection, the Director shall notify the requestor in writing of the denial and the reasons for the denial and shall inform the requestor of his/her rights to judicial review under Section 11 of FOIA. 

SUBPART C: PROCEDURES FOR PROVIDING PUBLIC RECORDS TO REQUESTORS

 

Section 3400.210  Copies of Public Records

 

a)         Copies of public records shall be provided to the requestor only upon payment of any charges due, except as provided in subsection (c).

 

b)         Charges for the certification and copies of public records shall be assessed in accordance with the Fee Schedule for Duplication of Public Records (see Appendix A to this Part).

 

c)         Charges shall be waived if the requestor is a member of the General Assembly.  Charges may be waived in any other case where the Freedom of Information Officer determines that the waiver serves the public interest pursuant to Section 6(b) of FOIA.  The Freedom of Information Officer will base this determination on the requestor's ability to pay the charges and whether the requestor's organization serves the citizens of Illinois as a whole.

 

Section 3400.220  Inspection of Public Records

 

a)         Records of the Tollway shall be available, unless otherwise exempt under Section 7 of FOIA, during the hours of 8:30 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (except for State holidays) at 2700 Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove IL  60515.  Requestors must contact the Freedom of Information Officer to schedule an appointment to inspect requested records.

 

b)         An employee of the Tollway may be present throughout the inspection.  A requestor will be prohibited from bringing bags, briefcases or other containers into the inspection room.

 

c)         Documents the requestor wishes to have copied shall be segregated during the course of the inspection.  Tollway employees or its designees shall do all copying.

 

Section 3400.230  General Material Available from the Tollway

 

The following materials shall be made available by the Tollway at its Central Offices located at 2700 Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove IL 60515 and on its Website, www.illinoistollway.com, pursuant to Sections 4 and 5 of FOIA:

 

a)         A brief description of the organizational structure and budget of the Tollway.

 

b)         A brief description of the means for requesting information and public records.

 

c)         A list of types and categories of public records maintained by the Tollway.

SUBPART D: RULEMAKING

 

Section 3400.310  Request for Adoption of Rules

 

a)         Pursuant to the requirements of Section 5-145 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act [5 ILCS 100/5-145], any interested person may contact the Tollway requesting the promulgation, amendment or repeal of a rule.

 

b)         The form of the request, which may be handwritten or typewritten, shall be essentially as follows:

 

1)         Name, title (if any), organization (if any), address, and telephone number of the requestor.

 

2)         Nature of action sought, i.e., promulgation of a rule, amendment of a rule, or repeal of a rule.

 

3)         Proposed text of the rule or amendment or identification of the rule to be repealed.

 

4)         Brief statement of the rationale for the requested action.

 

c)         Requests for rulemaking are to be sent or delivered to the Executive Director at 2700 Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove IL  60515.

 

d)         Requests shall be handled as follows:

 

1)         The Executive Director will forward a copy of the request to the Chairman, who will distribute a copy of the request to each Board Member. 

 

2)         The Chairman may, or, upon the request of at least three Board members, the Chairman shall, assign the matter for consideration by a committee of the Board of Directors or the full Board.  The Chairman will select up to three Board members to serve on the committee.

 

3)         The selected committee of the Board of Directors will evaluate the request and make a recommendation to the Chairman before the next meeting of the Board as to whether the request should be considered by the full Board.

 

4)         If, within 30 days after submission of the request, the Tollway has not initiated rulemaking proceedings in accordance with Section 5-35 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, the request shall be deemed to have been denied.




Section 3400.APPENDIX A  Document Reproduction Fees

 

PRICING PER PAGE FOR FOIA

 

Paper copy from paper original (letter sized)			$0.15
Paper copy from paper original (legal sized)			$0.25
Greenbar computer printout			$0.50
Paper copy from paper original (11" x 17")			$0.75
Paper copy from microfilm original (letter sized)			$0.25
Blueprints (microfiche adds $0.50 per page)			$2.50
Color photocopy (not exceeding 8½" x 11")			$0.50
Aerial photographs/renderings (color and black & white)			$10.00-$50.00
(for sizes larger than 8½"  x 11" & size dependent)
Electronic Media			Cost of Production
Certification of Requested Documents			$1.50