Guac N Tacos' Data Leaked By Elmhurst

ELMHURST, IL — Edgar Pal, an area citizen watchdog, is usually pushing Elmhurst to become more open with its public records. But on Friday, he went in another direction, noticing the city provided too much information in one instance. The city had posted the private information of a local restaurant's owners on the city's website, including Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and birthdays.

The release of the private information happened in connection with Guac N Tacos' request for a liquor license for its 522 W. North Ave. location. Guac N Tacos has four restaurants, including one in Western Springs.

On Friday night, Pal emailed aldermen Dannee Polomsky, Scott Levin and Norman Leader that the city had released the private information of Guac N Tacos owners Alex and Yerika Fuentes on the city's website. The information was for Monday's meeting of the city's Public Affairs and Safety Committee, to which the three aldermen belong.

Levin, who responded within about 20 minutes, said in an email that he would notify staff right away, thanking Pal for bringing the situation to the city's attention. The document was pulled from the website in about an hour of Pal's email, but it was likely up for more than a day, Pal said.
After the information was taken down, Pal asked the aldermen whether the city planned to notify Guac N Tacos about the release of information.

Levin emailed back that he had spoken with City Manager Jim Grabowski and that the manager indicated the city would provide Guac N Tacos' owners with free credit monitoring service. He said the city would comply with all laws related to the release of private information.

"The basic level of protecting consumer data should be known by everyone, and we will want to make sure that staff has been so advised," Levin said.

In a later email to the aldermen, Pal said while the city is conducting a review of the incident, it should determine whether the city needs sensitive information such as Social Security numbers for liquor license applications. He said he suspected the city would consider such issues in its broader discussion on data privacy.

Polomsky emailed Pal back the next morning. She said her email is sometimes open to her work account, so she doesn't always see city emails right away. She said she had contacted city officials, who confirmed the Guac N Tacos document was taken down. Pal, who forwarded the emails to Patch, apparently received no reply from Leader.