Ever since the surprise unveiling of a new Urbana Police Department Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract on December 19th, 2022, members of the public have shown up to City Council meetings to demand more transparency in the police contract negotiation process.
Thus far, the public has been kept entirely in the dark. The Urbana City Council initially held two closed sessions in September of 2022. Additional closed sessions were scheduled on December 19th, and this month on January 3rd and January 17th.
The decision to hide discussions from the public has always been unanimous, and none of the Urbana City Council members have explained to the public why they wish to hold police contract discussions in secret. There appears to be a quiet agreement by the Urbana City Council and Police Officials to keep everything behind closed doors.
The Open Meetings Act allows public bodies to move into closed sessions to discuss sensitive contract negotiations, but the Urbana City Council appears to be deploying this exception to keep the public entirely blind to any aspect of the FOP negotiations.
Last week, the Council went into closed session for nearly an hour to secretly discuss the new FOP contract. Members of the public who attended the meeting had to sit idle in the Council Chambers for that hour (with no idea when the public meeting would be resumed) while the Council and City staff held their meeting behind locked doors on the 2nd floor of the City Building. When the Council members returned to closed session, no information whatsoever was given to the public about what had occurred.
Urbana Human Resources & Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan defended the secretive nature of the FOP negotiation process by arguing that it is traditional for all related discussions, even those held by the City Council, to be held in closed sessions.
Shutting out the public is entirely by choice – the City Council could easily hold these discussions out in the open, but they choose not to. Even the new Council members who campaigned largely on police reform (Jaya Kolisetty, Chaundra Bishop, Grace Wilken, and Christopher Evans) endorse the secret meetings and are unwilling to explain why.