DuPage Co., IL. (ECWd) –
The DuPage County State’s Attorney, Bob Berlin, has stated that his office will not prosecute the College of DuPage Open Meetings Act violation from four years ago in which the Illinois Attorney General determined a violation occurred, and made that determination four years after the actual meeting in question.
He stated that after reviewing numerous OMA cases and binding opinions, he cannot find one where an item was overturned because of a technical violation, and in his opinion this is a technical violation. Should the AG have made a more timely determination, or had he been made aware of this within a few months of occurrence, he says the situation might be different. That due to the passage of time, and two elections it is not feasible to prosecute.
Additionally, he stated the Edgar County Watchdogs’ testimony to an Illinois House Committee on a recent Bill to amend the Open Meetings Act, supports the findings in the court cases reviewed.
We will review this letter, our testimony in Springfield, and AG Opinions to provide our in-depth assessment of this letter in a later article in order to provide the State’s Attorney’s opinion in an expeditious manner.
This only applies to the July 2011 College of DuPage meeting and only applies to the prosecutorial discretion to not pursue this action.
State’s Attorney Berlin’s letter to COD Chairman Hamilton:
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Berlin-Letter-to-COD.pdf”]
