Here’s what you can do when public agencies break transparency laws.
By Sarah Conway
A public meeting on the opening of The Hatchery held at Marshall Metropolitan High School in Garfield Park on November 28, 2018. (Photo by Danielle A. Scruggs )
Have you tried to attend a government meeting and been turned away? Did a public official tell you that you can’t record or take photos? Don’t even know how to find where and when meetings happen?
There are hundreds of public meetings a month in Chicago — It’s where a lot of decisions are made that affect your everyday life. From approving Cook County’s $6.18 billion budget to giving tax incentives to big developments like Lincoln Yards or the 78, that’s voted on at these meetings. When criminal justice reform advisers make the case to downgrade possession to a misdemeanor and expunge past charges, that happens at public meetings.
By law, people have the right to know when these meetings happen, to attend them, and to have their voices heard. So what happens when you aren’t able to access these meetings? Here’s what you need to know.
First, are you sure this meeting is subject to Illinois’ Open Meetings Act? That’s the state law that requires public bodies to make their meetings open to the public. It applies to any gathering in person or electronically, where members of a government agency convene to discuss the public’s business. The process of thoughtfully discussing and weighing options prior to voting at a public agency has to be conducted in the open. There are a few specific exceptions, mainly around privacy concerns, say on a student disciplinary board, or on collective negotiating matters.
All public bodies have to provide time for members of the public to speak at public meetings. You should not be required to sign up in advance of the meeting in order to speak. Also, the public is allowed to tape and film at public meetings unless something sensitive is happening, like a sworn testimony is being given. If someone tries to stop you, you should say that you have a right to do so under the Open Meetings Act.
It doesn’t do any good for public bodies to hold an open meeting if the public doesn’t know about it in advance. Generally speaking, public bodies must post an advance notice online or at their office that includes the agenda, which should include meeting actions, within 48 hours of a public meeting. Emergency meetings are an exception—in these cases, public bodies are urged to announce the meeting as soon as possible.
During a public meeting, a government body can call a closed session to discuss sensitive topics, but they must return to a public, open session to cast any votes or to end the meeting.
Every public body has to make their schedule of regular meetings available to the public at the beginning of each calendar or fiscal year. It must include regular dates, times and meeting locations. If an agency has a full-time staff member who maintains their website, they must post the meeting minutes online afterward. These are notes that detail what happened at the meeting. If this is not happening, you can contact the agency directly and ask for the information.
If a meeting is rescheduled and reconvened, then the public should get at least 48 hours’ notice before such a meeting. However, this doesn’t apply if the reconvened meeting happens within 24 hours of its cancellation or there was a genuine emergency.
If you believe that an upcoming closed meeting should be open to the public and will violate the Illinois Open Meetings Act then you can send a letter (a written demand) to the presiding officer or attorney of the public body to ask them to share the statutory exception that they are using to keep the meeting closed. Here you can also remind them of their obligations under the Open Meetings Act.
If you think that a public body has violated the Open Meetings Act, you can file for a request to have the incident reviewed with the Office of the Attorney General. This must be filed within 60 days of the alleged violation via the Attorney General Public Access Hotline at 1-877-299-FOIA (3642), or email at publicaccess@atg.state.il.us.
You also have the option of suing in Illinois state court within 60 days of an Open Meetings Act violation. If you win, a court may force the public body to make the meeting in question open to the public, provide detailed meeting records and possibly force the public body to pay your attorney fees. If you lose, however, a court may force you to pay the legal fees of the public body.
How open are your local public meetings? City Bureau’s Open Gov Report Card grades how Chicago and Cook County government agencies share important meeting information like agendas, minutes and schedules with the public. Based on 11 criteria, only a fraction of public meetings in Chicago and Cook County received an ‘A’ grade—just 2.7 percent—while 85 percent of public agencies had a ‘C’ grade or below. Read our story about the data here.
Support City Bureau’s community-building and storytelling work by becoming a City Bureau Press Club member today. Donate now and your impact is doubled thanks to a matching donor.
To get twice-monthly emails including Chicago news and events, sign up for City Bureau’s Chicago newsletter.