Milton Township, Ill. (ECWd) –Apparently, Milton Township thinks it can operate a “nonprofit” using township resources and self-declare the nonprofit as not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (and by extension, the Open Meetings Act) by claiming the “nonprofit” is not a public body (or a subsidiary public body). If this were permitted in Illinois, imagine the damage that could be done in every local government state-wide by simply transfer everything to a nonprofit and declaring it a private, independent entity and not subject to any public accountability. It their response to my second request for reconsideration, they claimed that operating a food pantry was not an inherent governmental function. We disagree, as townships are now authorized to operate food banks thanks to a change in law a few years ago – which makes it an inherent governmental function. We could be wrong, but with the information we currently have, we believe either path for a resolution of this issue will determine that the food pantry is a subsidiary public body of the township.