Records & FOIA

RECORDS & FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOIA)

General Background on Records and FOIA:

Township business generates untold volumes of records, everything from assessment records and tax payments to voter rolls and cemetery documentation. There are several things to know about these records: 1) They are public documents and therefore open to public scrutiny. Examples of such records include ordinances, meeting minutes, oaths sworn to, voter rolls, but there is much, much more. There are only a few documents that are protected, including communications with township legal counsel, or if social security numbers are visible, to name some examples.) 2) The State issues a mandated retention schedule by which township personnel must abide, either directing us to keep some records forever or dictating certain lengths of time before proper disposal. 3) The clerk is statutorily charged by the State with being the official keeper of township records; our clerk is charged by the township to be the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Coordinator. However, others are also charged with being in charge of their own "sub-categories" of records, such as the treasurer, or the supervisor. 4) The modern world is changing how records are stored. Many if not all records are now digitized so the townships --including ours-- are providing equipment, software or services that will allow the public to instantly access the township’s ordinances or the assessing or tax records from the township’s in-house public computer or from the website. Acquiring such new methods of access to township records is an on-going process. 5) There are legal steps by which public township records are accessed by the public under the Freedom of Information Act. For more details, see below.

Crystal Lake Township and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):
Work with us! Just ask for the records you seek. We believe in transparency in our government resulting in, 99% of the time, no need to FOIA us. When you feel a FOIA is the appropriate vehicle to request a record, there are more details to the request process than we can list here. What follows is our best attempt to generally guide you in your request.

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STATE OF MICHIGAN FOIA FACTS:

Michigan's Freedom of Information Act (Public Act 442 of 1976, MCL 15.231,et seq.) informs citizens that

the Michigan Freedom of Information Act gives the public the right to request to inspect and receive copies of public records, and to subscribe to regular issuances of public records;
a person cannot be required to fill out a specific FOIA form to make a FOIA request. Any written (paper or digital/electronic) or recorded request for information in a public record is a FOIA request;
a township has five (5) business days after receiving a FOIA request to do one of the following [excerpted from MCL 15.235]. Note that “business days” refers to Monday through Friday, but not weekends or holidays—it does NOT refer to the township’s days open for business;
unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the person making the request, a public body shall respond to a request for a public record within 5 business days after the public body receives the request by doing 1 of the following: (a) granting the request; (b) issuing a written notice to the requesting person denying the request; (c) granting the request in part and issuing a written notice to the requesting person denying the request in part; (d) issuing a notice extending for not more than 10 business days the period during which the public body shall respond to the request. A public body shall not issue more than 1 notice of extension for a particular request;
a township may take the ten (10) business day extension by notifying the requester in writing within the first five (5) business days;
when a township is going to charge for a FOIA request response, it can charge only the fees and amounts allowed by the FOIA. As long as the township is charging what the FOIA allows or less, a township board is not required to provide documents for free or to waive for specific requesters. A township must provide a FOIA requester with a “good faith” estimate of any costs that will be charged. Note that if the “good faith” estimate of costs is over $50, the township may require that the requester pay a 50% good faith deposit up front—before the township makes any copies or continues with the request. Once CLT sends a request for the deposit, the clock stops “ticking” on the deadline for the FOIA request, unless and until the requester pays the deposit or amends their request. Note that requesters often ask for a waiver of the township’s fees. As long as the township is charging what the FOIA allows or less, a township board is not required to provide documents for free or to waive for specific requesters. Also note that, once CLT receives the good faith deposit and makes the copies, the township is not required to actually hand over or mail those copies of records until fees are paid in full. There is no provision in the Michigan FOIA that requires a public body to waive fees because a requester asks for it or references a different state or federal law that provides for a waiver but CLT may choose to do so;
Public Act 523 of 2018 made two changes to the Freedom of Information Act (neither retroactive.) The first was regarding contact information. Except as expressly provided in section 13, upon providing a public body's FOIA coordinator with a written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record, a person has a right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the requested public record of the public body. A request from a person, other than an individual who qualifies as indigent under section 4(2)(a), must include the requesting person's complete name, address and contact information and, if the request is made by a person other than an individual, the complete name, address and contact information of the person's agent who is an individual. The address must be written in compliance with the United States Postal Service addressing standards. Contact information must include a valid telephone number or electronic mail address. The second was to add a clear deadline of 45 days following a request for a requester to pay the “good faith” deposit required by a public body; otherwise, the request is considered abandoned by the requester and the public body is no longer required to fulfill the request;
our township shall provide its FOIA Procedures and Guidelines and Written Public FOIA Summary in response to every FOIA request. However, a public body that posts and maintains procedures and guidelines and its written public summary on its website may include the website link to the documents in lieu of providing paper copies in its response to a written request.

CRYSTAL LAKE TOWNSHIP POLICIES AND FORMS:

For CLT's FOIA policy, click here.
For CLT's FOIA fee schedule, click here.
For CLT's suggested request forms, click here.

RETENTION SCHEDULES:

General Schedule #29--Township Treasurers
General Schedule #26--Local Government Human Resources
General Schedule #25--Township Clerks
General Schedule #23--Elections Records (revised 1-26-2016)
General Schedule #10--Township Records (not covered by another schedule)