While attempting to perform basic research, Check CU found that the Cunningham Township Board has failed to publicly display, and frequently failed to approve, its meeting minutes since March of this year.
The Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) requires minutes of meetings of a public body such as the Township Board to be reviewed and approved within 30 days or their 2nd subsequent meeting, and posted to the City website within 10 days of approval. This law ensures that the public has basic and timely access to the written actions of their government. Here is the exact text from the OMA:
“A public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body’s second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later. The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available for public inspection within 10 days after the approval of such minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, at the time it complies with the other requirements of this subsection, a public body that has a website that the full-time staff of the public body maintains shall post the minutes of a regular meeting of its governing body open to the public on the public body’s website within 10 days after the approval of the minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, any minutes of meetings open to the public posted on the public body’s website shall remain posted on the website for at least 60 days after their initial posting.”
The Cunningham Township Board utilizes the resources of the City of Urbana for posting its meeting minutes. Urbana has several full-time staff members who maintain the City website, and the City has not made the minutes available to the public via other means. The meeting minutes are not available anyplace on the Township website.
Reviewing the Cunningham Township agendas over the past few months, several sets of meeting minutes have also been delayed for review until well after the OMA deadline. For example, at tomorrow night’s meeting (October 11th) the Board will approve minutes from April 12th, June 14th, June 21st, and July 12th, all well past the statutory deadline. The Board is likely playing catch-up now that an official complaint has been filed about their meeting minutes.
Preparing and posting the minutes is a primary responsibility of Urbana City Clerk, Phyllis Clark. Clark was appointed by Mayor Diane Marlin last year, and was elected for an additional term this spring. As Check CU noted in an article last week, Phyllis Clark has unlawfully fabricated vote counts in her meeting minutes in the past, so posting those minutes for public scrutiny is important.
Check CU submitted a request for review to the Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor on this issue over a month ago, but has not yet received a response.
Check CU’s original request for review, can be seen here (click image for full-size PDF):
