This is an Open Meetings Act determination issued on February 10th, 2020 by the Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor in response to a request for review submitted by Steve LaRock who alleged that the Village of Sauk Village Board of Trustees was violating the OMA by failing to approve meeting minutes within the required time.
Section 2.06(b) of the OMA says that a “public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body’s second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later.”
The Board had very clearly failed to follow the OMA rules on timely approval of meeting minutes, so the PAC determination that the Board violated the OMA was rather straightforward.
One notable portion of this determination is a clear statement by Chief Deputy Attorney General Brent Stratton that the Board Committee of the Whole is not a public body distinct from the regular Board, so the counting of subsequent meetings needed to include both regular Board and Committee of the Whole meetings, and they could not be considered meetings of two different public bodies.
Village of Sauk Village Public Access Opinion 20-001 (OMA Request for Review 2019 PAC 60592)