Orland Park Village, Police, and Library fighting lawsuits –

ORLAND PARK, IL. (ECWd) –

This particular suit is just a small sample of how the public bodies in Orland Park view the public.

It covers Freedom of Information Act violations, Open Meetings Act violations, and free speech issues.

The Orland Park Police Department’s excuse for not responding to FOIA requests was that because they blocked emails from Megan Fox, they never received the FOIA request. Wrong! This suit alleges that they did in fact receive the FOIA requests at the instant it reached the computer that blocked it, and that the Orland Park Police Department took illegal steps to ensure they did not receive the emails, making it a willful and intentional violation of FOIA.

The suit also attacks the public comment policies of the Orland Park Public Library, stating that refusing to allow audience comments via computer assisted devices from an off-site location is a violation of the Open Meetings Act simply because the Act specifically grants conditions upon which board members may attend electronically, but is silent on audience members attending electronically.

This promises to be an interesting suit, with implications that can ripple state-wide.

Remember this quote from People ex rel. Hopf v. Barger:

“The people’s access to information is the basis of public understanding
of governmental decisions so that their elected representatives will be
responsive to them and under their ultimate control.”

Apparently elected officials in Orland Park think all these laws are optional – Now it is time to put them under control.

Amended complaint is below:

[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fox-v.-OPPD-et-al-First-Amended-Complaint.pdf”]