ORLAND PARK (ECWd) –
The Orland Park Public Library (OPPL) has recently been under attack by area citizens for voting to allow porn viewing on public computers without restriction. This includes some instances of child porn that have gone unreported to the authorities and at least one instance of a person doing things in public that he shouldn’t have been doing…and allowed to stay.
OPPL, a Public Library District with the Director making over $187,000 per year, 8 of its 16 employees raking in over $100,000 per year, 5 over $90k, and the remainder over $78k, one should be able to reasonably assume they can read. Every member of the Library Board is required to take the online Open Meetings Act (OMA) Training where one of the questions asks about special meetings on public holidays, and the Act itself specifically prohibits meetings on public holidays. The OPPL decided to hold a special meeting on February 12, 2014, a legal holiday in the State of Illinois (Lincoln’s Birthday).
Illinois Legal Holidays
Section 17 of the Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act, 205 ILCA 630/17, and the Illinois Supreme Court both list days that Illinois recognizes as legal holidays – February 12 is one of those listed holidays.
Open Meetings Act
Section 2.01 of the Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/2.01, states that “No meeting required by this Act to be public shall be held on a legal holiday unless the regular meeting day falls on that holiday.” — Special Meetings are not considered a regular meeting day. Here is the OPPL list of regular meeting dates.
Area citizens noticed the meeting was scheduled, without 48 hours prior notice to the public, without 48 notice of the agenda, and on a legal holiday. The board members and their attorney were notified prior to the meeting and ignored pleas to cancel the meeting due to the holiday. To me, that means knowingly violating the law, and violations of the OMA are Criminal Act.
What was on this agenda? Appointment of a new board member, changes to the public comment rules for meetings, and other items. I also understand they refused to allow public comment during this meeting, which is another criminal act in violation of the OMA. This meeting and all action(s) taken are invalid, whether the board realizes it yet or not, but they will have to nullify this meeting.
On February 25, 2014, I sent a letter to the board, the director, and the OPPL attorneys. No response or comment has been had from anyone at OPPL.
The revised public speaking policy violates the OMA in many ways and are detailed in the letter. Here is that letter:
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/OPPLletter.pdf”]
I also understand there were several Requests for Review sent to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor in reference to this meeting.
