URBANA, IL. (ECWd) –
The City of Urbana has paid our attorneys $12,750.00 to settle the lawsuit we filed in relation to their complete disregard of the Open Meetings Act’s mandate that people have the right to speak during public meetings, and public bodies can only adopt reasonable rules, and those rule must enhance, not restrict, the public’s ability to comment.
Under the previous rule, the Mayor permitted public comment and mentioning of names when the comments were favorable to the city or person, but cut off comments and names when the comments were not favorable. In other words: content based speech restrictions. That is why this lawsuit was filed.
While the settlement does not admit any wrongdoing on the part of the city, the city did admit it changed its public comment rules after the filing of the lawsuit.
5 Comments
Deborah Schmalshof
Posted at 11:26h, 29 NovemberSadly, they are elected and “we the people” taxes paid the lawyers….. no harm, no foul, for the perpetrators. If you can’t abide by your “oath of office “, you should automatically lose your office. That might make their oath more binding and them, more ethical. We certainly appreciate all you do !
Steve
Posted at 16:36h, 01 NovemberBeautiful!
You guys deserve ten times that amount against the Urbana Soviet.
Dave
Posted at 15:41h, 29 October“While the settlement does not admit any wrongdoing on the part of the city, the city did admit it changed its public comment rules after the filing of the lawsuit.”
Its amazing what govt gets away with
Publius
Posted at 09:54h, 29 OctoberIt’s unbelievable the extent public body’s will go to stifle dissenting or critical opinions, and waste taxpayer dollars in an attempt to control free speech or hide public information. Hopefully voters will remember.
Pete Johlie
Posted at 09:16h, 29 OctoberCongrats! Glad to see any movement in accountability