Harrisburg, Ill. (ECWd) –
A Saline County board member published that he was informed tonight prior to the meeting that his recording a county board meeting was prohibited because the meeting is being held in a courtroom (see letter shown here).
Prohibiting the recording of an open public meeting is a crime and cannot be tolerated.
If the Courts will not permit recording, the County Board must cancel the meetings and move them to a place where they can be recorded by anyone who wishes to record them.
All other counties and courts that we have come across realize a county board meeting is not a “court” and they also realize they cannot prohibit recording of a county board meeting held inside a courthouse or courtroom.
According to the Open Meetings Act, Section 2.05:
Sec. 2.05. Recording meetings. Subject to the provisions of Section 8-701 of the Code of Civil Procedure, any person may record the proceedings at meetings required to be open by this Act by tape, film or other means. The authority holding the meeting shall prescribe reasonable rules to govern the right to make such recordings.
Violations of the Act, including prohibiting the recording of an open public meeting, are Class C Misdemeanors – criminal.
See the Open Meetings Act, Section 4:
Sec. 4. Any person violating any of the provisions of this Act, except subsection (b), (c), (d), (e), or (f) of Section 1.05, shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.
We suggest the State’s Attorney talk with the county board chairman and get this figured out.
3 Responses
This one isn’t even hard to remember, and yet, some government body still tries to get by with it, hoping YOU, the public, don’t know your rights.
The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are the people with something to hide.
“Can’t record in a courtroom” HA! That’s in the context of judicial proceedings, not a board meeting. Are they just a bunch of rubes…or was that a foolish attempt to justify their unwillingness to have their meeting recorded? Surely, there have been other meetings recorded in a local courtroom.
How about – ahead of the meeting, and to cover future meetings – consulting with the State’s Attorney, or better yet…the judicial administration of the county?