At an Urbana City Council meeting Tuesday night, which was poorly publicized, held at an off-site facility, and not broadcast to the public, Ward 1 Alderperson Maryalice Wu was the first to jump into action when she realized that members of the media were trying to record the meeting.

Mayor Diane Marlin, City Clerk Phyllis Clark, the Urbana City Council, and more than a dozen other City Officials held their February 22^nd study session at the Stone Creek Church on the far south edge of the City.

Check CU learned that the meeting would not be broadcast for the public.  Check CU also learned that four prior such meetings had also been held at odd locations, were not broadcast, and no recording was made for the public, so we brought our own equipment to ensure a record was kept.

The meeting was open for attendance by the public, but due to the seating arrangements, it was nearly impossible for the public to hear the statements and commentary of their public officials for large portions of the meeting.  Tripod-mounted camera equipment could also not sufficiently pickup the Council comments.  When Check CU placed audio receivers at the tables near the front of the room where the Mayor, Council members, and other public officials were seated, Alderperson Maryalice Wu immediately complained to the City Clerk that the meeting was being recorded.

On Wu’s beckoning, City Clerk Phyllis Clark announced that audio recording in the vicinity of the Mayor, Council and City officials was “a violation”.  Clark said that the audio devices had to be removed, and several Council members and City Officials began grabbing and disabling the equipment.

Wu’s complaint was unusual because she regularly participates in public meetings that are fully recorded.  For the vast majority of the Council’s recent public meetings, Wu sits 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 Wu suddenly felt that a City Council meeting should not be recorded.

Unfortunately, since Wu and Clark held their conversation in the back corner of the room, no one from the public or the Council could hear what they were saying. This made it especially egregious because Wu was essentially calling a point of order to the meeting proceedings.  This should have been clearly audible to everyone in attendance.

The Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) assures the right of the public and the press to attend and record meetings of public bodies.  All meetings must be open and accessible to the public, with the exception of a few rare instances where public bodies can go into closed session.

Tuesday’s meeting would not be the first time that Wu has engaged in OMA violations.  Wu supported content-based speech restrictions in 2020.  This resulted in numerous residents being muted for offering ideas which the Council found disagreeable.  After the Attorney General said those speech restrictions were illegal, and the City paid to settle a lawsuit, Wu played dumb, claiming that she thought the speech restrictions were about obscene language or imagery.  Wu also claimed that she didn’t think anyone would be muted, even though she voted in favor of muting people.

Every member of a public body in Illinois is required to complete OMA training within 30 days of taking office.  Violations of the OMA are crimes, but State’s Attorneys almost never prosecute them.

Another Check CU article, which describes the recording prohibition at Tuesday’s meeting in greater length, can be viewed here:

Urbana Officials Prohibit Recording of Off-Site City Council Meeting