Villa Park’s John Barsotti honored for FOIA efforts

It all started with a simple request.

Villa Park resident John Barsotti had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the building permits for an addition his neighbor was putting up, concerned about potential flooding issues.

“But they didn’t show me those,” Barsotti said.

And soon, what began as a simple request ballooned into a much larger issue about public information and government accountability.

Barsotti spent a year fighting the municipality, writing letters, filing lawsuits and showing up to village meetings. For his work, he was recognized in December by the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst with a 2012 Citizen Initiative Award.

“It was unexpected,” Barsotti said of the honor. “It was very satisfying.”

The Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies to provide a “copy of its records on a specific subject … unless there is an exemption in the statute that protects those records from disclosure.”  Anyone, including private citizens, can file a FOIA request.

After his request was initially declined, Barsotti’s next step was to contact the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor, Sarah Pratt, who told Villa Park that Barsotti was entitled to the records.

Still, they denied him access.

So Barsotti took it a step further, filing a pro se lawsuit against the village.

He spent time at the DuPage Law Library, drafting legal documents and learning on the fly.

“That part was daunting and very challenging,” he said.

Eventually, the village settled, agreeing to show Barsotti the records he had originally requested.

But, according to Barsotti, he still hasn’t seen the Plats of Survey required for the addition and wound up finding the information via Google instead.

“Municipalities all over seem to be taking a stand against citizens getting access to this kind of information,” he said. “They can make it difficult by stalling.”

Where some might have given up, though, Barsotti kept on.

“I knew I was right,” he said. “The municipality was playing a game with me.”

The permit for the addition has since been withdrawn, according to Barsotti. But the underlying issue of accountability and access to public records, he said, remains an important one.

“I would ask that citizens (in similar situations) don’t get discouraged,” he said. “If you know you’re right, stick with it.”