Peoria Standard

The City of Carlinville isn't sticking to the letter of the law or, for that matter, the letter it promised twice to send to the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW), the group argued on its website recently.

In an early April meeting, the Carlinville City Council directed the city’s attorney to respond to two FOIA requests from Robert Kraft of the ECW. In mid-April, City Attorney Richard Bertinetti, City Clerk and FOIA Officer Carla Brockmeier and Mayor Deanna Demuzio said that two data CDs had been sent -- one that the ECW said never arrived and another to replace it, which the ECW also says never showed up.

A Carlinville resident submitted his own FOIA request after reading about the situation on the ECW's Illinois Leaks website, saying he would pick up the materials in person.

He told the ECW that in response, he received a notice from Daniel Schuering of Schuering Law noting that no CDs had been provided to Kraft. The response noted that the requested information, relating to the city’s credit card statements, cell phone statements and Open Meetings Act training records, was enclosed with the letter in the same manner that they had been provided to Kraft. There were no enclosures, the ECW said.