Search & Production

Search & Production: what the decisions show

Search and production covers whether a public body looked for responsive records and provided them in the form requested. These decisions address reasonable searches, including searches of personal accounts and third-party holdings, as well as requests for copies, electronic formats, and usable files.

The Public Access Counselor has generally found violations where a body failed to search likely locations, offered only inspection when copies were asked for, provided locked files that hid data, or withheld records without proof. It has also found no violation where a body made a good-faith reasonable search but records did not exist, and where paper-only records were not converted to electronic files. It has also noted that FOIA does not require creating new records or interpreting records.

At a glance: 25 documents from 2013 to 2025(5 binding opinions, 20 determination letters). Outcome: 14 found a violation (in whole or part), 6 found none. Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(b) (Private information) (3); 7(1)(c) (Personal privacy) (3); 7 (General exemptions provision) (2); 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (2); 3(g) (Unduly burdensome categorical request) (1).

Recurring issues

• Whether the public body conducted a reasonable search of likely locations and custodians for responsive records. (Athletic event ticket proceeds records, A village clerk's and trustee's event participation records, Audio and video recordings of a special board meeting)
• Whether communications about public business on personal accounts or devices must be searched. (Library trustees' communications via personal accounts, Park district officials' communications about district business)
• Whether providing only inspection, locked files, or paper records satisfies a request for copies or usable electronic files. (A reclamation plan for a mine site, FY24 and FY25 budget Excel workbooks and supporting file links, Paper-only records requested in electronic format)
• Whether a body violates FOIA when responsive records do not exist and it is asked to create, calculate, or interpret information. (Investigation reports and complaints referenced in a prior communication, Records of a Title IX investigation, Police daily body-camera usage statistics for a specific date)
• Whether withholding or limiting a search was justified or supported with adequate proof. (A village clerk's and trustee's event participation records, A village superintendent's and zoning administrator's emails, Communications about maintenance agreements for plantings)

Practical points

• A request for copies is not satisfied by an offer of inspection alone.
• Search likely sources of responsive records, including personal accounts used for public business and supervisor holdings, and explain the search if no records are found.
• A body that keeps records only on paper is not required to scan them to create electronic copies.
• Locked or password-protected files that hide formulas or columns do not provide the requested data in usable form.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.