FOIA Coordinator - Countywide

Countywide Foia Coordinator

The Countywide FOIA Coordinator serves as the County's central administrative coordinator for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) operations processed through County Administration and in accordance with applicable law, county FOIA procedures, and designated departmental responsibilities. Housed in County Administration, this position is responsible for countywide program administration designed to support consistent, compliant, and transparent public records practices across departments, including workflow governance, software administration, interdepartmental coordination, and operational reporting to the County Administrator.

This position supports, but does not replace, existing department staff and is intended to centralize administrative oversight, standardize countywide practices, resolve workflow issues, and manage a growing and increasingly complex FOIA compliance function.

This position has no direct supervisory authority over other county employees. The FOIA Coordinator provides functional leadership, guidance, and workflow direction to department FOIA coordinators and other staff involved in records request administration.

• Serve as the County's primary administrative intake and triage point for countywide FOIA requests submitted through the dedicated online portal and other channels, including evaluation of routing, complexity, and coordination needs.
• Route requests to the appropriate department(s) in compliance with Michigan FOIA statutes and established county procedures.
• Monitor and evaluate the FOIA software platform dashboard to maintain countywide operational visibility into open, pending, overdue, and closed requests and identify workflow issues, bottlenecks, and compliance risks requiring intervention.

• Track statutory response deadlines under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCL 15.231 et seq.), coordinate timely departmental input, and escalate compliance risks to appropriate leadership in accordance with county procedures.
• Assess request status and issue reminders, escalations, and operational directives to department staff when deadlines, record gathering, or review activities are approaching risk thresholds.
• Oversee maintenance of the administrative record for FOIA requests, responses, exemptions cited, fee determinations, and appeals, and use such records to support compliance analysis, reporting, and continuous process improvement.
• Maintain current expertise in Michigan FOIA requirements and related public records obligations; monitor legislative and regulatory developments, advise affected staff on operational impacts, and coordinate with county civil counsel as appropriate on legal updates and implementation.

• Administer, implement, and maintain countywide FOIA intake, fee assessment, redaction, and appeal practices in accordance with the County's written FOIA procedures, guidelines, and written public summary.
• Coordinate and document uniform County FOIA workflows and administrative practices, consistent with established county procedures and applicable law, to support consistent application across the Sheriff's Office, Prosecutor's Office, Health Department, IT Department, and other county departments.
• Coordinate legal review of complex or sensitive requests in collaboration with county civil counsel.

• Serve as the primary system administrator for the County's FOIA management software platform.
• Design, configure, and maintain request forms, workflows, routing rules, redaction exemption codes, and reporting dashboards to support legally compliant and operationally efficient countywide FOIA administration.
• Coordinate with the IT Department on system updates, integrations (including Laserfiche), and technical support escalations.
• Maintain payment portal configuration and coordinate accurate invoicing, fee itemizations, and deposits for statutorily authorized FOIA charges in accordance with Michigan law and county FOIA procedures.

• Review complex or sensitive records responsive to FOIA requests for appropriate redaction of exempt information under Michigan FOIA and provide recommendations regarding records handling and disclosure issues.
• Apply and document redaction exemption codes in the FOIA platform; generate exemption logs for each applicable request.
• Coordinate with the Prosecutor's Office and county counsel on legally sensitive requests, appeals, or potential litigation.
• Prepare, compile, and present FOIA appeal matters to the head of the public body or its designee(s), including the administrative record, supporting documentation, and written recommendations regarding the County's response, exemptions asserted, fee determinations, and proposed written appeal disposition, in accordance with applicable law and county FOIA procedures.

• Provide onboarding and ongoing training to…