On Friday, November 20th, a complaint was filed in Champaign County Sixth Judicial Circuit court of Illinois alleging Open Meetings Act Violations by the Urbana City Council and the Mayor of Urbana Diane Marlin.
The lawsuit cites multiple Urbana City Council meetings in September, October, and November, wherein Mayor Marlin and the City Council violated the Open Meetings Act by unlawfully restricting the right of the public to speak at City meetings. The complaint reads:
“In an affront to the long and proper tradition of robust public discussion and criticism of public officials that is vital to a well-functioning democracy, Defendants believe they can prohibit the public from criticizing public officials and employees on matters of public concern. Defendants apply their public comment policy in a deliberate attempt to silence criticism. They have even gone so far as to explicitly state that they were cutting off and muting a speaker for voicing her opinion.”
The complaint then goes on to cite specific instances where members of the public were interrupted and muted by Mayor Marlin and other City Council members for attempting to criticize the actions of elected officials and City employees.
The complaint is brought forth by the law firm Loevy & Loevy for the plaintiffs John Kraft, Kirk Allen, and Christopher Hansen. The plaintiffs are asking the court to:
- Declare that Defendants violated OMA;
- Enjoin Defendants from restricting people from naming, addressing, or criticizing current or former public officials and employees;
- Enjoin Defendants from having or enforcing any content based restrictions on public comment;
- Award Plaintiffs reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs; and
- Award such other relief the Court considers appropriate.
The full ten page complaint, along with exhibits, can be viewed here:
The following articles are related to this issue, and show Urbana’s progression toward heavily restricted speech at City meetings:
Speech Restrictions at Urbana Public Meetings Will Backfire on Mayor Marlin
Mayor Marlin Prefers Open Meetings Act Violations Over Honest Discussion
Criticism Not Welcome at Urbana Human Relations Commission
Carol Mitten Argues for Kid-Gloves at Government Meetings
Urbana Council Passes New Meeting Rules Regulating Content of Public Speech
ACLU Rep Bill Brown Supports Urbana’s Speech Restrictions, Says Rules Will be Applied Non-Uniformly
James Simon’s Claims & Citations on Urbana’s New Speech Restrictions Exhibit Gross Incompetence
Mayor Marlin & Husband Talk about Pesky Public Commenters
Marlin Doubles-Down on Open Meetings Act Violations
ACLU Representative Bill Brown Selectively Enforces Urbana’s New Speech Restrictions
Urbana Mayor Calls for Residents to be Muted for Criticizing Public Officials
“Opinions” Not Allowed at Urbana City Council Meetings
Urbana’s Solution to Police Misconduct: Secrecy and Censorship