Introduction to FOIA

Introduction:

Welcome to the Region 5 Documents Management Section (DMS). The DMS is located in the Program Management Branch (PMB) within the Superfund Division (SFD). The section has two primary functions: (1) to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiries; and (2) to house and manage all SFD permanent records.

The DMS was established in 1991 as the centralized FOIA processing entity within the SFD. In 1996, FOIA operations were integrated with records management. The FOIA component of the DMS processes approximately 60% of the FOIA requests for the entire Region 5 on an annual basis. FOIA Specialists work full-time on processing public inquiries and have maintained an excellent record for responding to 90% of these requests within 20 days or less over the years. The DMS relies on an expansive tracking and monitoring system to ensure timeliness and accuracy in their FOIA responses. To date, the staff has processed over 40,000 high quality public responses. Each FOIA Specialist is assigned to one or more states in Region 5. If you have questions, please contact one of the following Specialists:

Name	States	Telephone Number
Fred Gage	Illinois	(312) 353-3167
Helen Mays	Minnesota & Wisconsin	(312) 886-6229
Melvina Taylor	Ohio	(312) 886-6225
Mary Thomas	Michigan/Multi-States	(312) 886-0397
Portrice Vernon	Region 5, Multi-Sites & FOIA Coordination	(312) 353-1063
Audre Williams	Indiana	(312) 886-6163

Introduction to FOIA

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