AG: City Of Peru’s Pool Committee Meetings Must Be Open to The Public –

Peru, Ill. (ECWd) –

On June 24, 2025, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor issued Binding Opinion 25-007 stating the City of Peru’s Pool Committee is a subsidiary body of the city council and is subject to the Open Meetings Act (which also makes it subject to the Freedom of Information Act).

A Request for Review was filed alleging that the Committee violated OMA by improperly holding private meetings:

“The city of Peru has been holding committee meetings but they are closed to the public. The committee was appointed by the mayor, contains city officials, and city citizens. It’s to discuss building a new pool because we passed a referendum to instruct the city to build a pool. They’ve been meeting for several months now without access for the public to attend“

Additionally, the complaint alleged that “financial reports were given on the status of the general fund as it pertains to a pool and use of tax dollars, ” and” designs and locations were discussed,” but the Committee did not compile meeting minutes or otherwise adhere to the requirements of OMA.

According to the Opinion, four primary factors that courts consider in determining whether an entity is a “subsidiary body” of a public body are: “(1) the extent to which the entity has a legal existence independent of government resolution, (2) the degree of government control exerted over the entity, (3) the extent to which the entity is publicly funded, and ( 4) the nature of the functions performed by the entity. No single factor is determinative or conclusive, but as the definition indicates, the key distinguishing factors are government creation and control.” Better Government Ass’n, 2017 IL 121124, 126

The AG PAC applied the four factors (see Opinion) and determined the committee violated the Open Meetings Act and stated: “the Committee is directed to take immediate and appropriate action to comply with this opinion by taking measures to ensure all future meetings comply with the requirements of OMA, including properly posting meeting notices and agendas, allowing opportunity for public comment, and preparing meeting minutes. Committee members shall also complete the OMA electronic training curriculum.”

We applaud the outstanding observations of Mr. Riordan and his work in forcing the committee to open its meetings to the public as they should have been from the beginning.