McCullom Lake hides behind FOIA

This morning I called the McCullom Lake P.D. to ask the termination date for Kelly Given. I was interested in learning whether she had really departed that Department. According to media reports last week, it looked like the Village President was going to let her walk away from the filing of 60 traffic tickets against Jim O'Doherty, all of which were dismissed in court.

The Village of McCullom Lake could have really kept the matter simple and cheap. All they had to do was answer the question, "What is the employment status of Kelly Given?"

Possible answers?

She is no longer employed here. Her last day of work was ______. Or,
She is employed at this time.

Instead, I was told to file a FOIA Request.

My contention is that government can be open, transparent, efficient and run economically for the taxpayers. Or they can play the "game" and run up their legal bills.

FOIA is for prying information out of government entities that they are legally required to provide (but stubbornly refuse to provide). FOIA forces government to answer. Government can answer without a FOIA request and should not routinely demand a FOIA request to delay answering.

Sending me to the Village's attorney doesn't really make any sense. Why should McCullom Lake incur legal fees for an attorney's time to receive my phone call and return it? His advice should be only to the Village and not to individuals, including me. I won't be offended if he doesn't call me back.

The Village already has my FOIA Request. The clock is ticking. Tick, tock.