BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) –

This past week, after a three-year delay, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor has finally issued a determination of an alleged Open Meetings Act complaint filed by former Bloomington Councilman Judy Stearns.

On November 15, 2013, Stearns, as councilman, was participating in a closed session meeting where the topics discussed were not an allowable exception to an open meeting. She voiced her objection to the discussion, walked out of the closed session, and later filed a complaint against the city for violating the Open Meetings Act.

That’s when the antithesis of “Not In Our Town” kicked in full force and Stearns was verbally abused by Mayor Tari Renner, in public, and was for the most part ostracized by some fellow Councilmen. We are glad to see that Truth does prevail!, however, we are just as upset that the AG’s office took two and a half long years to make what should have been a fairly routine decision – after all, they listened to the tapes.

Now, two and a half years later, the AG-PAC finally got around to making a determination, and that determination is that the City of Bloomington violated the Open Meetings Act by discussion things in closed session that are not to be discussed in closed session, and the city was directed to make the recordings of that meeting available for public review.

[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/27199-O-2a-Improper-2c1-Proper-Improper-Mun.pdf”]
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