Update: This story has been updated to provide a comment from the Office of Attorney General.
The Mayor of Galesburg says the recent findings of Illinois Attorney General’s office that determined the City Council violated the Open Meetings Act are “a lesson learned for all those involved.”
As WGIL reported Monday, the Illinois Attorney General’s office ruled the Galesburg City Council violated the Open Meetings Act at two December 2022 meetings when it spent closed-door sessions discussing matters “not within the scope of the exceptions” cited for the closing of the meetings.
Among the items the AG’s office found in violation of the Open Meetings Act were the discussion of creating an assistant city manager position and discussion of salary issues pertaining to employment positions rather than specific employees.
The determination, issued Friday by Public Access Bureau Chief Steve Silverman, requests the City Council to vote on releasing the recording of the Dec. 5 closed session and portions of the Dec. 19 closed session. There were no fines or penalties levied against the city.
WGIL originally reported the determination was binding, but in fact the AG decision is non-binding.
Silverman wrote:
“In accordance with the conclusions expressed above, this office requests that the City Council remedy its improper closed session discussions by voting to make publicly available the verbatim recording of the December 5, 2022, closed session and the portions of the verbatim recording of the December 19, 2022, closed session that were not permissible under the section 2(c)(1) exception.
“The Public Access Counselor has determined that resolution of this matter does not require the issuance of a binding opinion. This file is closed.”
Galesburg Mayor Peter Schwartzman issued a news release Tuesday morning to address the recent findings of the Attorney General’s office. The mayor stressed there was no intent to willfully violate the Open Meetings Act.
He also noted “Given that no ‘binding opinion’ is required, the City doesn’t necessarily have to do anything in response to the AG’s judgment. However, given that I have no interest in keeping anything discussed at these meetings private, I hereby urge the Council to vote to release all transcripts of the two meetings, including the section of the second meeting that was considered suitable for an executive session.”
Schwartzman said he’s been involved in executive meeting for 12 years between being a council member and mayor, adding, “I do not believe that what happened in these two meetings was an aberration, which is why no one ‘called’ it out. However, the AG Office’s opinion is clarifying and one that I believe our Council and City can definitely learn from.”
Ward 1 Alderman Bradley Hix and then Ward 7 Alderman Larry Cox filed Open Meetings Act violations complaints against the city in January, alleging topics discussed at the Dec. 5 and 19 executive sessions should not have been done in private.
When asked what determines if a determination is binding, Drew Hill, deputy press secretary for the Office of the Attorney General said, “Most of the approximately 3,500 requests for review the public access counselor (PAC) receives each year are resolved with determinations such as this one.
“We strongly encourage public bodies to comply with the PAC’s recommendations to ensure compliance with transparency laws, and they generally do.”
Following is the mayor’s statement in its entirety:
Galesburg OMA Violations – Response from Mayor Schwartzman by WGIL Radio on Scribd
