Section 2925.10  Description of Agency

The Illinois Development Finance Authority (IDFA) was created by PA 81-454, effective September 23, 1983 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 48, par. 850.01).  The purpose of the IDFA is to help Illinois businesses create and retain employment for Illinois residents, and to perform other duties as set forth specially in the statutes governing the Authority, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1992, ch. 48, par. 850.01 et seq.).  The IDFA is a political subdivision, body politic and corporate.

Section 2925.20  Organizational Structure

The IDFA is governed by a board of directors of 15 people appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.  The Board appoints an Executive Director and other staff as needed.  The staff is separated into an operations staff and a program staff.  The authority's organization chart is attached as Exhibit B "Organization Chart".

Section 2925.30  Authority Offices and Business Hours

a)         The IDFA maintains three offices:

1)         The Chicago office, which is the IDFA headquarters at Suite 980, 2 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601-9892.  The telephone number is 312/793-5586.

2)         The Springfield office is located at 600 S. Second Street, Suite 100, Springfield, Illinois 62704.  The telephone number is 217/524-1567.

3)         The Marion office is located at 400 East DeYoung, P.O. Box 397, Marion, Illinois 62959.  The telephone number is 618/997-6318.

b)         The Authority provides its financial services through 3 regions in Illinois, headquartered in each of the offices listed in subsection (a) of this Section.

c)         The business hours of the Authority are 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday, except for state holidays.

Section 2925.40  Board Meetings

a)         The meetings of the IDFA are held every third Wednesday of the month, except when the Board shall vote to hold the meetings on another day.

b)         The meetings shall be open to the public, and the meetings are conducted in accordance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act (Ill. Rev. Stat.1991, ch. 102, par. 41-46).

c)         A quorum of the members shall be 8 members.

d)         The By-Laws of the Board of Directors are available upon request to the Secretary to the Board of Directors, Suite 920, 2 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602-9897.

Section 2925.100  Rulemaking Procedures

a)         Rules for the operation of IDFA programs are promulgated in accordance with the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 127, par. 1001-1, et seq.) and the rules at 1 Ill. Adm. Code 100.  Please refer to Exhibit C of this Part.

b)         Rules may be initiated by petition from a member of the public, by the Executive Director on his/her own initiative, or at the direction of the Board of Directors.

c)         The legal staff for IDFA shall draft all proposed rules for consideration by the Executive Director and the Board of Directors.  After approval of proposed rulemaking, the legal staff shall be responsible for coordinating the rules with the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and working to promulgate the rules through to adoption.

d)         Public hearings may be conducted on proposed rulemaking in accordance with the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.  If requested by an individual or organization, or at the direction of the Executive Director, such hearings will be conducted in Chicago and Springfield, and a transcript of the proceedings shall be made by a court reporter or electronic device.  The hearing date, time and location shall be publicized by the Executive Director at least 24 hours prior to each hearing, and by a means reasonably calculated to broadly disseminate the information concerning hearings.  All public comments shall be considered by the Executive Director during the first notice period, as required by the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.

e)         The rules of the Authority are found at 14 Ill. Adm. Code Chapter III.

Section 2925.200  Public Information

a)         All requests from the public for information should be addressed to the Executive Director at the Chicago office (see Section2925.230 (a) of Subpart C of this Part.)  All requests must be in writing, stating specifically what information is sought and the reason it is needed by the requestor.

b)         All information requests submitted pursuant to this rule will be handled as promptly as possible, but not according to the time standards contained in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 116, par. 201 et seq.).  Requests for information may be submitted to the Authority verbally or in writing to be considered pursuant to this Subpart.

Section 2925.300  Summary and Purpose

a)         These rules are established to implement the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.  The purpose of these rules is to support the policy of providing public access to the public records in the possession of the IDFA, while at the same time, protecting legitimate privacy interests and maintaining administrative efficiency.

b)         These rules create a procedure by which the public may request and obtain public records.  Therefore, they are being filed in accordance with Section 5-15 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.  A request form is set forth in Exhibit A of this Part.

Section 2925.305  Definitions

a)         Terms not otherwise defined shall have the same meaning as in the FOIA. 

b)         As used in this Part, the following terms shall mean:

"Authority" means the Illinois Development Finance Authority (IDFA) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 48, par. 850.01 et seq.)

"FOIA":  the Freedom of Information Act, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 116, par. 201 et seq.

"Freedom of Information Officer":  an individual responsible for receiving and responding to requests for public records.

"Requestor":  a person who submits a request for public records in accordance with these Rules.

Section 2925.310  Principal Office

For the purposes of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the principal office of the Illinois Development Finance Authority is Suite 980, 2 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois.

Section 2925.315  Availability and Inspection of Records at Authority Offices

a)         Generally, public records will be made available for inspection during normal business hours of the Authority at the principal office of the Authority.

b)         Documents which the Requestor wishes to have copied shall be segregated during the course of the inspection.  Generally, all copying shall be done by Authority employees, except in cases of voluminous requests.  Public records provided as a result of requests for a large number of documents may be sent off site to be copied.

c)         Unless otherwise arranged, the inspection of records shall take place at the Authority's office.  For purposes of convenience, either the Authority or the Requestor may request that inspection take place in another Authority office location.

d)         An employee of the Authority shall be present throughout the inspection. A Requestor may be prohibited from bring bags, brief cases or other containers into the inspection room.

Section 2925.320  Person to Whom Requests are Submitted

Requests for public records shall be submitted to the Freedom of Information Officer of the Authority.  Requests shall be submitted to the following address:

Freedom of Information Officer

Illinois Development Finance Authority

Suite 980, 2 N. LaSalle Street

Chicago, IL 60602-9897

Attn:  FOIA Requests

Section 2925.325  Form and Content of Requests

a)         Requests in accordance with the FOIA and these Rules shall be made in writing.  Such requests may be submitted on FOIA request forms provided by the Authority.

b)         Oral requests will be handled as expeditiously as possible.  However, the required response times and the appeal procedures contained in the FOIA and these Rules do not apply to oral requests.

c)         The Requestor shall provide the following information in a request for public records:

1)         The Requestor's full name, address and phone number.

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

3)         Whether the request is for inspection of public records, copies of public records, or both.

Section 2925.330  Timeline for Authority Responses

a)         The Authority shall respond to a written request for public records within 7 business days after the receipt of such request.

b)         The Authority may give notice of an extension of time to respond which does not exceed an additional 7 business days.  Such an extension is allowable only if written notice is provided within the original 7 business day time limit and only for the reasons provided in Section 3 (d) of the FOIA.  Such notice of extension shall state the reasons why the extension is necessary.

Section 2925.335  Types of Authority Responses

a)         The Authority shall respond to a request for public records in one of three ways:

1)         Approve the request.

2)         Approve in part and deny in part.

3)         Deny the request.

b)         Upon arrival of a request for public records, the Authority will either give notice that the materials shall be made available upon payment of reproduction costs or give notice of the time and place for inspection of records.

c)         A denial of a request for public records shall be made in writing.  It shall state the reasons for the denial in accordance with either Section 3(f) or Section 7 of the FOIA and the names and titles of individuals responsible for the decision.  It shall also give notice of the Requestor's right to appeal to the Executive Director of the Authority.

d)         Categorical requests creating an undue burden upon the Authority shall be denied only after extending to the Requestor an opportunity to confer in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions in accordance with Section 3(f) of the FOIA.

e)         Failure to respond to a written request within 7 business days may be considered by the Requestor a denial of the request.

f)         Notices of denial shall be maintained in the IDFA office in Chicago, Illinois.

Section 2925.340  Appeal of 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 Authority.  The notice of appeal shall be made in writing and sent to:

Executive Director

Illinois Development Finance Authority

Suite 980, 2 N. LaSalle Street

Chicago, IL 60702-9897

Attn:  FOIA Appeal

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.

Section 2925.345  Appeal Procedure

a)         Any person requesting a record who has been denied access by the Freedom of Information Officer may appeal such denial to the Executive Director pursuant to Section 10 of the FOIA.

b)         The appeal request must be in writing and addressed to the Executive Director, Suite 980, 2 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602-9897.  It shall contain 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.

Section 2925.350  Director's Response to Appeal

The Director shall respond to an appeal within 7 business days after receiving notice thereof.  The Director shall either affirm the denial or provide access to the requested public records.  Failure to respond within 7 business days may be considered by the Requestor an affirmation of the denial.

Section 2925.355  Fees

a)         The fees for copying any record shall be $.50 per page of material 8½" X 11" in size, $1.00 per page of material larger than 8½" X 11" in size, and certification shall be $2.00 per document unless a specific statute provides otherwise.

b)         Copies of public records shall be provided to the requestor only upon payment of the charges which are due.

c)         Requests for a waiver or reduction of any fee pursuant to Section 6 of FOIA shall be directed to the Freedom of Information Officer.

d)         Charges shall be waived if the requestor is a local, state, or Federal governmental agency or an elected official.  Charges may be waived in any other cases in which the Freedom of Information Officer determines that the waiver serves the public interest.  (Section 206 of the FOIA)

Section 2925.360  General Materials Available from the Freedom of Information Officer

The Freedom of Information Officer shall make available to the public at no charge the following materials:

a)         A brief description of the organizational structure and budget of the Authority;

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 Authority.

Section 2925.EXHIBIT A   Freedom of Information Request Form

The department will respond to a request for public records within seven (7) working days after its receipt.  If your request is denied, you may file an appeal.  Appeals should be addressed to the Executive Director, Illinois Development Finance Authority, Suite 980, 2 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602-9897.

Section 2925.EXHIBIT B   Organization Chart

ILLINOIS DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY

ORGANIZATION CHART

AUGUST 1992

Section 2925.EXHIBIT C   Rulemaking Chart