Sauk Village Mayor Earns First AG Binding Opinion Of 2026 –

Sauk Village, Ill. (ECWd) –

We first wrote about this in our article entitled “Sauk Village Mayor: “You Can’t Say Their Names“” back in November of 2025, after a village meeting where the mayor attempted to shut down Ms. Francine Anderson, a public commenter, for saying the names of village trustees during her public comment time.

We knew the mayor violated the Open Meetings Act and the public’s right to speak when we saw the video.

On January 21, 2026, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor published its first binding opinion of the year, and it confirms Sauk Village Mayor violated the Open Meetings Act during the November 4, 2025, meeting of the village trustees.

From the Binding Opinion:

• For the reasons discussed below, this office concludes that the Village of Sauk Village (Village) Board of Trustees (Board) violated OMA by
  improperly limiting and interfering with Ms. Francine Anderson’s opportunity to address public officials during the Board’s November 4, 2025, Committee of the Whole meeting
• The Board has not established and recorded a rule that prohibits speakers from addressing individual trustees by name. Even if it had, public comment rules must tend to accommodate, rather than unreasonably restrict, the right to address public officials. A rule that prohibits speakers from stating the names of trustees to which they direct comments would be incompatible with that standard and the language of section 2.06(g) of OMA that guarantees members of the public “an opportunity to address public officials[.]”
• Ms. Anderson did not disrupt the meeting by stating the names of trustees. Therefore, the interruption and interference with Ms. Anderson’s public comment was not a valid exercise of the Board’s inherent authority to run an orderly meeting.
• Accordingly, the Attorney General concludes that the Board violated section 2.06(g) of OMA by impermissibly restricting Ms. Anderson from addressing public officials during the Board’s November 4, 2025, Committee of the Whole meeting.

This was a complete embarrassment of the mayor and should be used as an example at all Open Meetings Act training classes as what not to do while in public office.