FOIA

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Overview

Michigan's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) mandates that local municipalities, school districts, and state agencies in Michigan must release public records upon request, promoting transparency and accountability in government.

In July of 2025, STEP requested that the township provide all records of communication related to the proposed mining operation on Ormond Road, excluding documents already publicly available on the township website. Our original FOIA requests specified any and all communication from January 2014 through July 2025.

After working through record access issues, the township responded with a fee letter in September of 2025. Given the expansive timeframe, the requested fee for records exceeded $1,300.

As a result, STEP adjusted the timeframe and resubmitted the FOIA requests. We were charged $682.13 for the requested information covering November 2024 through September 2025.

You will find the results of the FOIA requests, as we received them, linked below. Please note that the documents are not in chronological order, and some pages are repeated due to attachments and email threads.