Less than 24 hours after the Illinois Attorney General initiated an investigation into a secret meeting of the Urbana Plan Commission, Mayor Diane Marlin sent a letter to the City Council admitting that the Commission had violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA).
The Mayor attended the December 7th Plan Commission meeting along with City Council member Maryalice Wu.
The meeting focused on the final approval of the highly contested Hope Village project, a Carle Hospital real estate development on the northwest edge of Urbana which would consist of thirty tiny homes and a staff/community building.
The decision for the Commission to take a “recess” in the middle of deliberations and move the discussion to the 2nd floor of the City Building was a joint decision between Commission Chair Dustin Allred, City Attorney David Wesner, and City Planner Kevin Garcia. All members of the Plan Commission then voted unanimously to move part of the meeting to a private conference room on the 2nd floor.
Members of the Plan Commission who voted for the closed meeting, in addition to Chair Dustin Allred, were Bill Rose, Chenxi Yu, Debarah McFarlane, and and Lew Hopkins.
Check CU published an article about the unlawful closed meeting on December 29th, and then another article about the Attorney General Public Access Counselor investigation which was initiated on January 3rd.
A review of the meeting video shows that there was no confusion about the Commission’s intention to hold a meeting out of public view. Attorney Wesner acknowledged that “recessing to confer is a little bit odd”, and ultimately Chair Allred said, “I suggest that we recess and consult with the City Attorney”. Bill Rose made a motion to recess and Chenxi Yu seconded the motion.
None of the public officials in attendance attempted to explain why any portion of their deliberations on the Hope Village project should be concealed from public view.
As City Staff and the Plan Commission members were leaving the Council chambers, Mayor Marlin and Community Development Services Director Kimberly Smith can be seen engaging in a discussion with City Attorney Wesner. The public meeting video of the Council chambers shows that recently resigned (11/6/2023) Urbana City Clerk Phyllis Clark also attended the Plan Commission meeting.
Council member Maryalice Wu, who sat in the audience during the December 7th Plan Commission meeting, heard complaints from residents that night about the closed session. At a City Council meeting on December 18th, Wu assured the public that there was no OMA violation because, “it was not a closed session, it was a recess.”
Though it does veer from the City’s usual modus operandi of obstinately denying wrongdoing in almost every legal matter, Mayor Marlin’s letter leaves a lot to be desired in terms of honesty. The Mayor writes:
“The recess was intended to allow for an informal sidebar between the Commission chair and the City Attorney in Council Chambers. However, City Staff, the City Attorney and Plan Commission Members left the council chambers and gathered as a group in a second floor conference room. A few minutes later, after realizing that the group had left the room to gather elsewhere, Mayor Marlin went to the conference room to instruct them to return to Council Chambers.”
Anyone who observed the meeting would conclude that it was clearly the intention of the Commission to hold a full private meeting, not just a chat between one member and the City Attorney. At the beginning of the nearly fourteen minute long “recess” the entire Commission and all City staff filed out of the Council chambers. Seconds before leaving the chambers, it sounds like Attorney Wesner says, “it’s almost like going into closed session”.
Mayor Marlin’s letter concludes by assuring the City Council that, “the City is requiring that all parties involved retake their Public Access Counselor OMA training”. However, nothing is mentioned in the letter about restoring the trampled rights of the public, especially the residents of the Carver Park neighborhood area who attended the meeting to express their concerns about the Hope Village development.
Mayor Marlin’s complete letter, issued on the morning of January 4th (but inexplicably dated January 3rd) is provided below:
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Yes, I attended the Plan Commission meeting on that date because I am a member of Ward 3 and I whole heartedly support the residents of Carver Park. No one is in opposition of the homeless being housed, the problem is that the residents of Carver Park is being dismissed by both Urbana and Champaign. The question is why are their concerns not important enough to take into consideration. Carle has abused this community before and now they return for a second time around because this community is insignificant once again!