Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Strengthened Sunshine laws enforced

Two of the six major taxing districts in O’Fallon and Shiloh were found to not be in full compliance with Sunshine laws encouraging open government, and a new bill taking effect next year will strengthen such laws through enforcement of the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

The Central School District 104 was found to be in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and two of the four school districts were found to be breaking a new law requiring the posting of administrative salaries and bargaining contracts as of October 1.

District 104 violated the Open Meetings Act because of a failure to review semi-annually for confidentiality the closed session minutes of meetings during an open session of a board of education meeting. The act intends to ensure open government through a variety of measures, including the release of closed session minutes the board no longer believes needs to be confidential.

Central Superintendent Steve Amizich said the district was sorry for the mistake and intended to review the closed session minutes at the board’s next meeting on Nov. 9. "You wear so many hats as a small school district sometimes things get swept under the table," Amizich said.

The Shiloh School District 85 and District 104 were found to be in violation of a new law effective Oct. 1 requiring schools to post on its Web site the salaries of administrators and contracts the board enters into with a bargaining representative (such as teachers’ union contracts). Since then, both school districts have complied fully with the law.

Such violations will face stronger enforcement through Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Office after the signing into law a revised Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on Aug. 16, which takes effect on Jan 1.

The revised law allows a "public access counselor" in the office to issue binding opinions dealing with issues of open government, such as violations of the Open Meetings Act and FOIA. Currently, the only recourse for violations of Sunshine laws is through the filing of a lawsuit.

Courts may impose fines between $2,500 to $5,000 upon districts "willfully and intentionally" violating FOIA, and convict persons in violation of the Open Meetings Act of a misdemeanor with sentences up to 30 days in jail and fines of $1,000.

An additional requirement of the Open Meetings Act is the limiting of issues that can be discussed in a closed session meeting. With only a few exceptions, closed meeting discussions must be limited to issues of personnel, purchase of property and litigation.

Until the reformed FOIA law takes effect, though, the requirement is difficult to ensure unless the governing body releases the verbatim recordings of a meeting or a lawsuit is filed — in which case a judge will review the recordings. Freedom of Information Act requests to review the verbatim recordings of closed session meetings of boards were denied by the school districts of Central, District 90, O’Fallon Township High and Shiloh.

Central School District 104

The Central School District Board of Education has not held the required semi-annual open meetings to review closed session minutes to determine whether those records can be released to the public since Dec. 2007. The board did review for confidentiality closed session minutes during an executive session held on Jan 12, 2009, but did not make a motion to release or keep confidential the minutes during the open session following the review.

The board is responsible for governing the school district’s $7.76 million budget and 500-plus students.

During that Dec. 2007 review, the board approved the release of some closed session minutes — the most recent of which was an executive meeting held on April 23, 2007. The board approved the destruction of the verbatim recordings from closed meetings prior to Oct. 2007 during its board meeting on March 9, 2009.

Superintendent Steve Amizich said the district reviewed closed session minutes prior to the board of education meeting on March 10, 2008, but mistakenly left the review off the agenda. Amizich said the district now intends to include a motion to destroy executive session records 18 months old during each board meeting, and follow a biannual schedule for the review of closed session minutes in April and October.

"It has not been a burning issue to us, but it is something we will pay better attention to," Amizich said.

Central board member Chris Monroe said the board continually works for the best interest of the students and strives to comply with the Open Meetings Act while in closed sessions; limiting the discussion to those approved by law.

"I recall on some occassions you kind of start getting off on a tangent, but we quickly bring it back and say this is something that needs to be talked about in open sessions," Monroe said.

Monroe and board President Todd Wobbe said they believed the board was in full compliance with Sunshine laws.

The district posts the minutes of open general meetings and committee meetings from April 2007 to the most recently approved minutes on its Web site http://www.central104.org.

While the district has posted an administrative salary compensation report to its Web site as required by law, the itemized list is limited in comparison to the other two school districts complying with the law.

Central reports on the salary, pension contribution, cost of health insurance and paid vacation, but does not report on the cost of annuities, professional dues, cell phone usage or relocation expenses as reported by School Districts 90 and 203.

The district also posted its collective bargaining agreement on Oct. 30 — about a month later than the effective date of the law requiring its posting.

Shiloh School District 85

The Shiloh School District 85 Board of Education is within full compliance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and recently complied with the new law requiring the posting of administrator salary compensation and bargaining agreements on its Web site.

The board is responsible for governing the school district’s $6.39 million budget and 600-plus students.

The board reviews closed session minutes at each monthly meeting, and regularly releases the closed session minutes of the executive session held within eight months prior. The released minutes of the executive sessions contain detailed information of issues discussed during those closed sessions.

Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw said the district does not destroy the minutes of closed meetings, but does destroy the verbatim recordings of those meetings after the required 18 months.

Filyaw said the district has placed a heavy emphasis on open governance and has worked to provide a Web site that is user-friendly.

"We want our public to feel like they have access to information we can release," Filyaw said. "Obviously, some things discussed in executive sessions need to be kept closed...., but we want to give them as much information as possible because they are the taxpayers in the district and we want to keep them informed."

The district also posted the salary compensation report and bargaining agreements on the homepage of its Web site on Oct. 15. Filyaw said she realized the postings were two weeks late, but she was unable to post them earlier due to being on maternity leave at the time.

She added the district was aware of the upcoming additions to the Illinois Sunshine laws and would make any necessary changes.

The district posts the minutes of open meetings from July 2006 to the most recently approved minutes, and the minutes of a released executive session held in February 2009, on its Web site http://www.shiloh.stclair.k12.il.us.

O'Fallon Township High School District 203

The O'Fallon Township High School District 203 Board of Education is also within full compliance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Unlike the Shiloh School District, though, the board chooses to keep confidential the closed session minutes reviewed by the board biannually.

The board is responsible for governing the school district's $40.4 million budget and 2,400-plus students.

Superintendent Darcy Benway said the board keeps closed session minutes confidential because of privacy concerns for discussions of personnel, student discipline, land purchases and litigation.

"Ever since I've been here (July 2007)...there has not been a closed session where we have not discussed names of people or specific litigation or students,” Benway said. "Those things can never be open. It can never be released even a 100 years from now because of privacy requirements."

For example, the board’s latest review of closed session minutes on Jan. 22, 2009 chose to keep confidential the minutes from executive sessions from July 2008 through Dec. 2008.

Benway said that while some districts choose to release whole or redacted portions of the closed session minutes, the Dist. 203 has chosen not to.

"This board has made the practice that either the minutes are able to be released in whole or total, or not," Benway said. "And since I've been here we’re so big that in every single session we are discussing personnel issues. In a smaller elementary school such as Shiloh, there may not be as high of personnel turnover. And we have student issues that elementary school’s very rarely face. Just by the nature of larger districts there are more issues that cannot be released."

The board also annually approves the destruction of the verbatim recordings of closed meetings more than 18 months old as permitted by law. The most recent destruction was approved by the board was on Nov. 18, 2008 — destroying the verbatim recordings of meetings up to May 17, 2007. Benway said the board is careful not to discuss anything prohibited by law in closed session minutes.

The district has posted the minutes of open meetings from Dec. 2007 to the most recently approved minutes on its Web site https://www.edline.net/pages/O_Fallon_High_School.

The district has also posted an administrator salary compensation with a detailed itemized sheet and its collective bargaining agreement approved in August.

Benway said the district places a heavy emphasis on being open to the public and welcomed suggestions to improve communication.

"We try to go the extra steps to be open to the public," she said. "After all, we work for the public."

O'Fallon School District 90

The O'Fallon School District 90 Board of Education is in complaince with the Illinois Open Meetings Act and the new law requiring the posting of salary compenstion and collective bargaining agreements. Similar to Dist. 203, the board does not release the closed session minutes of past executive sessions.

The board is responsible for governing the school district’s $35.1 million budget and 3,600-plus students.

Superintendent Nancy Gibson said the board's decision not to release the closed session minutes is because of the need for privacy of the issues discusses, such as personnel and student discipline.

The board passed a motion during its meeting on Oct. 27 to keep the executive session minutes from January 2009 to June 2009 closed. In a response to a FOIA request, Gibson said the year’s remaining closed session minutes will be reviewed for release in December.

The board previously chose to keep confidential the closed session minutes of 2008 during meetings held in July 2008 and Nov. 2008.

The district posts the minutes of open meetings from Sept. 2008 to the most recently approved minutes on its Web site http://www.ofallon90.net.

The district has also posted an administrator salary compensation with a detailed itemized sheet and its collective bargaining agreement.

City of O'Fallon

The City of O'Fallon City Council is within compliance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act and also has gone above the requirements of the law in posting hundreds of public documents on its Web site.

The council is responsible for governing the city’s $45.5 million budget and 29,000-plus residents.

The O'Fallon City Council has reviewed and released the minutes of closed sessions twice in the past year; on Feb. 2 and July 6.

The council's review in February spurred the release of six closed session minutes spanning from May 2004 until May 2008. The council's review in July spurred the release of 11 closed session minutes from Jan. 2002 until March 2005."

The council also enters into less executive sessions in comparison to other taxing bodies in O'Fallon and Shiloh. In the past year, the council went into closed session only four times during its 19 council meetings.

The council has posted online the minutes of open meetings from as far back as 1954 to the most recently approved minutes. Among numerous other documents detailing city actions and policies, the city has posted the released closed session minutes on its Web site www.ofallon.org.

Village of Shiloh

The Village of Shiloh is also within compliance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. The Shiloh Board of Trustees reviews for confidentiality and potential release the closed minutes of executive sessions every six months — the most recent review during the Oct. 9 board meeting.

The board is responsible for governing the village’s $4.2 million budget and 11,000-plus residents.

None of the closed minutes were released during the October review, but the some minutes were released to the public during the previous review on April 4. The most recently released closed minutes stemmed from the executive session held during the April 2008 board meeting.

The board also destroys the verbatim recordings of closed sessions more than 18 months old.

The board does not post the minutes of open meetings on its Web site www.shilohil.org, but has them available for review at Shiloh Village Hall located at 1 Park Drive in Shiloh.