FOIA Request Manager · v2.4 · WordPress Plugin
Illinois FOIA compliance, wired into the workflow
Statutory tracks, business-day deadlines that know Illinois holidays, a Sec. 7(1) denial engine, ten statutory letters, a Sec. 6 fee calculator, a public FOIA log, and an immutable audit trail — with separate dashboards for your FOIA officer and your requesters.
| Request | Track | Status | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOIA-2026-0141 Police reports — June traffic stops | Standard · 3(d) | Received | Jul 24 (5 bus. days) |
| FOIA-2026-0140 All vendor contracts 2024–2026 | Commercial · 3.1 | Processing | Aug 13 (21 working days) |
| FOIA-2026-0138 Water dept. maintenance logs | Standard · 3(e) ext. | Overdue | Jul 15 — 2 days over |
| FOIA-2026-0137 Council email — Ord. 2026-14 | Standard | Granted | Closed Jul 14 |
Fee Assessment — Sec. 6 (5 ILCS 140/6)
Statutory caps enforced server-side · 6(c) public-interest waiver available
Trusted by cities, villages, and townships nationwide — built by a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that works exclusively with local government.
Product Tour
The statute is in the software
Five-day clocks, 3(e) extensions, 7(1) exemptions, Sec. 6 fees, PAC review rights — the workflow enforces what the Illinois FOIA requires, so your FOIA officer doesn't have to hold it all in their head.
01 · Statutory Tracks & Deadlines
Deadlines computed the way a judge would
Pick the track and the due date recalculates in Illinois business days — excluding weekends and state holidays, with observed-day shifts. The one-time Sec. 3(e) extension adds five business days from its seven permissible reasons, and a second extension is blocked with the written-agreement citation.
- Standard 5-day, Commercial 21 working days, Recurrent 21 days, Unduly Burdensome
- Recurrent-requester counters live against the 2(g) thresholds
- Commercial-purpose disclosure captured at intake per 3.1(c)
Request Track
Sec. 3(e) Extension — one time
A second 3(e) extension is not permitted — further time requires the requester's written agreement.
Recurrent Requester — Sec. 2(g)
Designation available — remember the news-media and non-profit exclusions before applying it.
AI Suggestions — for review
CityAI suggests exemption 7(1)(d)(iv) and assignment to Records Div. Suggestions never act on their own — a human applies or dismisses them, and every AI event is audit-logged.
02 · Denial Engine & Statutory Letters
Letters that can't go out half-done
The Sec. 7(1) exemption picker, required factual basis, and deciding official capture everything Sec. 9(a) demands — and the denial letter literally refuses to generate until they're saved. Ten print-ready letters pull live data from the file, so a letter can never disagree with the record.
- 12 common exemptions with citations, plus 7.5 free-text
- Mandatory PAC Request-for-Review rights (9.5) and judicial review (Sec. 11) language
- Acknowledgment, grant, partial, no-records, extension, burdensome, commercial, recurrent, and fee letters
CITY OF YOURTOWN
Office of the FOIA Officer · 123 Main St · Yourtown, IL
RE: FOIA-2026-0139 — Denial of Request (5 ILCS 140/9(a))
Your request for personnel disciplinary files is denied pursuant to Section 7(1)(c) (personal information — unwarranted invasion of personal privacy)…
Factual basis: The records consist solely of…
Deciding official: J. Smith, FOIA Officer
You have the right to review by the Public Access Counselor within 60 days (5 ILCS 140/9.5) or judicial review under Section 11.
Letter Library — 10 templates
Denial and fee letters refuse to generate until their statutory contents are saved.
03 · Public Log & Immutable Audit
Transparency outward, accountability inward
The auto-created public FOIA log shows every request's status without ever rendering requester contact information — with per-request exclusion and redacted summaries for sensitive matters. Behind it, an append-only audit table records every status change, download, fee event, and letter, with no update or delete methods in the code.
- Annual-report CSV with the columns your report actually needs
- Protected-file downloads logged: who, what, when
- Local Records Act-aware PII retention purge — human-confirmed by default
Public FOIA Log
| # | Received | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0141 | Jul 17 | Police reports — June traffic stops | Received |
| 0140 | Jul 14 | Vendor contracts 2024–2026 | Processing |
| 0139 | Jul 10 | [Redacted summary provided by staff] | Denied |
| 0137 | Jul 6 | Council email — Ord. 2026-14 | Granted |
Requester contact information is never rendered on the public log.
Audit Trail — append-only
J. Smith · Jul 16, 2:14 PM
requester (verified) · Jul 16, 9:02 AM
J. Smith · Jul 15, 4:41 PM
J. Smith · Jul 15, 4:39 PM
CityAI (ai_draft) · Jul 15, 3:58 PM
04 · Every Written Form of Intake
Web form, email — same pipeline, same clock
Illinois FOIA requires accepting requests in any written form. The web form captures the commercial-purpose disclosure and a drawn signature; the foia@ mailbox is ingested automatically — IMAP polling or an authenticated webhook — with attachments to protected storage, a confirmation email with the request number, and the statutory clock started at intake.
- Requesters get their own verified dashboard with message threads
- Email verification, brute-force lockout, protected file storage
- Response records delivered through authenticated downloads, not email attachments
Submit a FOIA Request
Or email your request to foia@yourtown.gov — it enters the same queue with the same deadline.
Role-Aware By Design
One statute. Three seats at the table.
Requesters see progress, officers see the clock, and administrators see the whole record.
For Requesters
- Submit online or by email — any written form
- A verified dashboard with live status
- Secure message threads with staff
- Records via authenticated downloads
- PAC review rights spelled out in every denial
For FOIA Officers & Clerks
- A queue sorted by the statutory clock
- Tracks, extensions, and denials with guardrails
- Ten letters that pull live data from the file
- Sec. 6 fees computed, invoiced, and tracked
- Works natively inside the Frontend Dashboard
For Administrators & Attorneys
- An append-only audit trail as the record of truth
- Annual-report CSV export, one click
- Public log with exclusion and redaction controls
- Local Records Act-aware retention with human confirmation
- AI assistance that suggests — never decides
The Full Toolkit
Nine pages on activation. A setup wizard. Twenty demo requests.
Everything auto-creates and self-repairs — and a one-click demo dataset exercises every statutory feature so you can train staff risk-free.
Inbound Email Ingestion
The foia@ mailbox becomes an intake channel — IMAP polling or an authenticated webhook — with attachments secured and the clock started automatically.
Protected Storage & Verification
Signatures and documents live behind deny rules with randomized names; requester accounts must verify email before touching a file.
AI With a Human in the Loop
CityAI drafts notes and suggests exemptions or assignments for review — it can never set a denial basis, change status, or contact a requester.
Retention, Done Lawfully
PII purges are queued and human-confirmed by default, with the Local Records Act disposal-certificate warning built into the confirmation.
Annual Report CSV
Tracks, extensions, exemptions cited, fee totals, and response-document counts — the exact columns an annual FOIA report needs.
Auto-Updates & Self-Repair
SnapStore updates, a health engine that verifies pages, roles, storage, crons, and bridges — and repairs them on demand.
Deployment
Compliant intake by the end of the day
Activate
Nine pages, the staff and requester roles, and protected storage are created automatically.
Run the Wizard
Enter your organization details, FOIA officer, and letterhead — the letters pull from these settings.
Load Demo Data
Twenty realistic Illinois requests exercise every track, letter, fee, and edge case for training.
Go Live
Link the request form, point foia@ at the ingester, and let the clock run itself.
Why SnapSite
Why municipalities choose FOIA Request Manager
Statute-First Design
Deadlines, extensions, denials, and fees implement 5 ILCS 140 section by section — with the citations in the interface.
WCAG AA Accessible
Programmatically audited contrast — 24 button-state pairs, all passing — 44px touch targets, mobile-stacking tables, reduced-motion support.
You Own the Record
Requests, files, and the audit table live in your database — a defensible public record on your own server.
Part of an Ecosystem
Bridges to the Frontend Dashboard and SnapSite Portal put FOIA beside your agendas, permits, and 311 in one staff console.
SDVOSB Vendor
SnapSite.us LLC is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business — set-aside-eligible for government procurement.
Predictable Cost
Flat licensing — no per-request or per-seat fees, no matter how busy your FOIA year gets.
Ready to put the statute on autopilot?
See the compliance engine, letters, and fee calculator working on the 20-request demo dataset — or talk with us about deploying it for your city.
Schedule a Live Demo