Ward 5 Alderperson Chaundra Bishop didn’t hesitate for a moment to join in on the Open Meetings Act violations committed by the Urbana, Illinois City Council and numerous City Officials on Tuesday evening.
When portions of the February 22nd Council meeting were not audible from the public seating area, Check CU placed audio receivers at the front of the room to supplement our camera equipment. The right to attend, observe, hear, and record meetings of public bodies is explicitly protected by the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA), and every member of a public body is required to take OMA training.
After City Clerk Phyllis Clark announced that audio recording in the vicinity of the Mayor, City Council members, and other City Officials was “a violation”, Bishop immediately removed an audio device placed near her.
About five minutes later, City Administrator Carol Mitten walked up to the microphone and said that the City Council and other City Officials should either try to ignore being recorded or leave the meeting. Her speech appeared to be an admission that people had the right to record public meetings, but Council members continued to disable audio equipment after Mitten spoke.
Chaundra Bishop disabled recording equipment within full sight of Carol Mitten and Deputy Chief Richard Surles. When the audio device was restored, Bishop waited until we weren’t looking, then she disabled it again.
Bishop, along with the other Council members and City Officials, have been recorded at their meetings for years. For the vast majority of their recent public meetings, the same officials sit directly in front of a camera and microphone for the duration of the meeting. State law requires the City to record their Zoom meetings, and requires them to “allow any interested member of the public access to contemporaneously hear all discussion, testimony, and roll call votes”. It is nothing short of bizarre that dozens of City officials suddenly felt that a City Council meeting should not be recorded.
Another Check CU article, which describes the recording prohibition at Tuesday’s meeting in greater detail, can be viewed here: