Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) is certainly not a new phenomenon. Hardly a month goes by where Check CU has not documented multiple OMA violations by the Mayor and her political allies.
In 2020, the Urbana City Council held numerous meeting wherein Marlin violated the OMA by actively muting residents during public input. The Illinois Attorney General (IAG) found that the Mayor’s actions were illegal in three complaints filed. A lawsuit filed against the Mayor also cited violations and Marlin’s legal team has conceded in that matter. The IAG continues to investigate numerous other allegations of OMA violations by Mayor Marlin stretching back over 15 months and will undoubtedly cite additional violations.
Mayor Marlin’s most commonly employed tactic is to mute residents who issue opinions that contrast with her agenda. She has done this dozens of times by muting residents before their speaking time has expired. Marlin has also quickly muted residents with opposing viewpoints immediately near the end of their speaking time, while allowing her friends and recruited supporters to speak far beyond their allotted time.
One notable example from Marlin’s cohort is Giovanna Dibenedetto, a member of a City of Urbana Board titled the Mayor’s Neighborhood Safety Task Force. As the name implies, the Task Force focuses on issues of neighborhood safety such as crime.
At the July 27th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, Mayor Marlin unlawfully reduced the public input speaking time from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. Her speech restrictions violated Urbana’s recorded meeting rules and was also therefore a violation of the OMA. Marlin proceeded to mute multiple residents at or near the 3 minute mark. However, when Ms. Dibenedetto spoke to urge an increase in policing, Marlin let her speak for 6 minutes and 19 seconds – more than double what other speakers were allowed.
At the August 3rd, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, speaking time was again unlawfully reduced to 3 minutes. Residents critical of the Mayor and the police department that has supported her campaigns were interrupted at or near the 3 minute mark whereas Dibenedetto, who delivered rhetoric in line with Mayor Marlin’s agenda, was allowed to speak unrestricted for 4 minutes.
(After the meetings mentioned above, on October 14th, 2020 the Urbana City Council passed new public input rules which reduced the speaking time at virtual meetings from 5 minutes to 4 minutes.)
Last night, at the October 4th Urbana City Council meeting, residents wishing to address the Council were limited to 4 minutes, with the exception of Ms. Dibenedetto, who was chosen to speak first and was allowed to speak for 4 minutes and 23 seconds, plus play a video for the Council. In the pre-edited video, Dibenedetto used her young granddaughter to advocate for the Mayor’s plan to install automatic license plate reader cameras throughout the City. The entire presentation lasted 8 minutes and 20 seconds, more than double the amount of time that other residents were allowed. This extra-long presentation was arranged by Mayor Marlin and UPTV staff before the meeting.
The ability to play videos for the Council during virtual public input has not been extended to any other Urbana residents.