By:  Diane Benjamin

On November 12th I wrote about the illegal time change for the Allin Township Fire Protection District meeting:  http://blnnews.com/2015/11/12/illegal-meeting-allin-tfpd/

The minutes from the meeting show people did show up late.  Were they expecting the meeting to be at the regular time of 7:00 pm?  See the minutes below.

The time wasn’t the only problem.  See the agenda here:

The minutes tell a different story.  Listing the Chief’s report on the agenda does NOT give the Trustee’s authority to pass anything!

First, an application for Fire Fighter was accepted by motion and vote – no mention on the agenda.

Second, payroll for training and call was approved – no mention on the agenda.

Third, purchase of a recliner for not more than $1000 was approved – no mention on the agenda.

An auditing contract with John Grimes was approved – it IS on the agenda.

Fourth – a cell phone contract for $800 was approved – no mention on the agenda.

The entire meeting was illegal because the time change was not posted according to the Open Meetings Act law.  All four points above are illegal not only because the meeting was illegal, but because they were not disclosed on the agenda.  Citizens were not properly notified of pending action and were therefore unable to voice their opinions.

Laws only matter if they are complied with.  Mick Owen, Scott Eidenmiller, and Steve Sharp need to explain why they didn’t.

Part of the minutes is below:

Open Meetings Act Training is required for ALL elected and appointed people:

https://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/Open_Meetings_Act_Elected_Appointed_Members.pdf

Training for both the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act is available here:

http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/

Citizens need to take it too – so they know when the law is being broken.