On October 23rd 2019, citizens spoke at the Urbana Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) meeting, questioning its efficacy, and more specifically, how city staff handle the process. Of particular note, board members heard complaints about Human Resources Director Todd Rent, who has repeatedly refused to deliver public records to complainants.
Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public entities are obliged to give any records in its possession to any person requesting them, unless the public entity can cite a specific reason to deny the request. CU-Underground has heard from citizens who are frustrated with the City of Urbana repeatedly denying records, and Todd Rent’s name comes up almost every time. Technically, City Clerk Charles Smyth is the primary FOIA officer for the City of Urbana, but Smyth seems to take a submissive role in the process, quietly deferring to the entrenched interests of the Urbana human relations and legal staff. When you ask for records from Urbana, it will generally be Todd Rent who is tasked with delaying the process and eventually crafting a reason to deny the request.
FOIA denials are nothing new, and Urbana’s reputation for secrecy and concealment of misconduct is already known. What is especially pernicious about FOIA denials in regards to citizen police complaints is that the denial doesn’t just shut out the public from knowledge, it shuts down the police complaint process so that citizen board members never get to perform their jobs. When a citizen submits a complaint against the police, the Chief (currently, Bryant Seraphin) assigns an officer to review the case. A report is generated and then the Chief uses that report to write a letter of conclusion to the complainant. The CPRB is not involved in any way at this point. After the complainant receives the findings from the Chief, they have the option to appeal the findings, to be reviewed by the CPRB. However, citizens are never given a copy of the complaint report generated by the Urbana Police Department. When citizens have attempted to get a copy of that report through FOIA, Todd Rent denies the request, on the basis that it is part of an ongoing investigation, or for any other reason he can muster.
Todd Rent refusing to supply the reports, or any documents in regard to the complaint, is completely contrary to the purpose of the CPRB ordinance. The only reason to do this is to shut down the citizen complaint process before it can ever get to the board of citizens assigned to review these cases. As it stands, only 1 case has ever made it to the CPRB for review in over 10 years, a number that city staff were embarrassed to reveal when questioned by concerned board members.
Todd Edmund Rent started as the City of Urbana Human Relations/Compliance Officer in 2007 and Mayor Diane Marlin advised that he be made the Director of Human Resources in 2017. Rent commands $130k per year in compensation, making him one of the highest paid city employees in Urbana.
Upon hearing the complaints of his conduct at the CPRB meeting, Rent became defensive and made various squirrely remarks suggestive of the claims being untrue, without actually discretely stating that the claims were untrue. Rent did not want the issue discussed publicly and sought to delay the discussion until another time and place. It seems Todd Rent is as practiced at employing delay and deflect tactics in real time, as he is when formulating letters for public records denials. It should also be made clear at this point that Urbana FOIA issues aren’t restricted merely to creative denial letters, but also include plenty of flat-out violations of the FOIA law. The elected official who should be taking responsibility for the situation, City Clerk Charles A Smyth, has refused to issue any comment.