AG: Caseyville Violated Open Meetings Act In Closed Session –

Caseyville, Ill. (ECWd) –

The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) has issued a determination affirming what we already knew, that the Village of Caseyville violated the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) on July 3, 2024, when it went in to closed session to discuss why the vote to pay the bills failed.

“The open session recording of the July 3, 2024, meeting showed that a motion to approve bills failed after one Board member mentioned that there were discrepancies within the bills that the Board needed to resolve. Later in the meeting, that Board member asked if the Board could enter closed session to discuss the billing discrepancies. The Board then voted to go into closed session. The Board did not cite an exception within section 2(c) of OMA that authorized the closed session. The July 3, 2024, Board meeting minutes indicate that the Board entered closed session “to discuss why the motion to pay bills was not passed.” The Board’s minutes did not list an applicable section 2(c) exception, nor is there an exception listed in section 2(c) of OMA authorizing a closed session to discuss the payment of bills. Accordingly, the Board violated section 2a of OMA by failing to cite and record an exception authorizing the closed session.”

The board did vote to release the closed session recording after complaints were filed, but that did not negate the fact they violated the OMA when they entered into the closed session improperly.

The AG’s PAC previously issued a Binding Opinion against Caseyville earlier this year (HERE).