A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was sent to Dekalb County, Illinois, on September 26, 2024. The request, made by us at DeKalb Times, seeks detailed information about the county’s vendor payments for the majority of the year 2024.
Specifically, we asked for a list of all payments made to vendors from January 1, 2024, through September 26, 2024. The requested data includes four key fields: the name of the vendor, the date of each transaction, a description of each transaction, and the amount paid in each transaction.
As a media organization dedicated to comprehensive and accurate news coverage on local governmental affairs, access to such public records is essential for our work. We believe this information will aid in holding public institutions accountable and providing transparency to our readership.
In our role as journalists disseminating information to the public, we have also requested a fee waiver as part of this FOIA request. This is based on our status as media professionals whose primary purpose is to inform the public about matters of interest and importance.
We await a response from Dekalb County regarding this FOIA request.
