By: Diane Benjamin
Complying with the law doesn’t matter when citizens “interfere” with government’s ability to do whatever they want!
Normal is the perfect example. The entire Council, Mayor, and City Manager are pretending they asked the Attorney General to rule on their policy. They didn’t. TWO citizens want Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office to issue a binding resolution demanding Normal change it to comply with the Open Meetings Act. Normal will never volunteer to change – Lisa Madigan must force them.
Somewhere government forgot who they work for.
Somewhere government forgot who owned the money they are throwing around before they stole it from the people who earned it!
Illinois State University is the latest one I’ve uncovered with an illegal policy. It is obviously aimed at “sit down and shut up you stupid taxpayers”!
See it HERE
10.1 The Board of Trustees requires that persons wishing to comment on agenda action items during a public meeting of the Board, request permission in writing to speak at least seventy-two (72) hours before the meeting. In the event of a special called meeting, the Board requires a written request no less than twenty-four (24) hours before the scheduled special meeting. In the event that a regular or special meeting immediately follows a weekend or holiday, any written request to address the Board must be received by 4:00 p.m. on the last business day preceding the weekend or holiday. Such requests should be submitted to the Assistant to the President, or designee, and should provide the following information: (revised July 1998: Resolution No. 1998.07/11)
- Name
- Business or residential address
- Relationship to the University
- Topic upon which the person wishes to address the Board
- Statement of position, relevant facts and any appropriate written material
Everything in red is illegal.
I wonder if the agenda is available MORE than 72 hours in advance?
48 hours is all that’s required by law!
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They didn’t stop there:
10.2 At the discretion of the Chairperson of the Board, persons wishing to speak on agenda items who have properly completed and submitted the required materials will be heard before a vote is taken on relevant action item. Individual audience presentations on any agenda action item will be limited to five (5) minutes. The total time for audience presentation on any single agenda action item will be limited to fifteen (15) minutes unless an extension of time is approved by the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees. If more than three persons wish to speak on any single agenda action item, the amount of time devoted to audience presentation will be divided equally among all those who wish to speak on the item. When large numbers of persons wish to speak on any single agenda action item, it is recommended they choose one or more persons to speak for them.
10.3 Persons wishing to speak on matters not on the agenda must submit the required information in Section 10.1, above, no less than 72 hours before the scheduled meeting time. In addition to the information in Section 10.1 above, those wishing to address the Trustees should submit a text or detailed outline of the issue which will be considered by the Trustees. Individuals who have submitted the required materials and are in the audience may be invited by the Trustees to respond to questions or provide additional information as requested by the Trustees.
Red illegal, blue interesting.
Since Public Access should be very good at Public Comment policy now,
anybody want to file this case?
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.
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We should just go to the meeting and arrest all of them.
I will film, Kirk can call the sheriff, and you do the arrest since you have experience. They don’t meet very often though.
I will film, Kirk can call the sheriff, and you do the arrest since you have experience. They don’t meet very often though.
YEP. I wanted to talk at an ISU BOT meeting, but I had a lot going on and it was all too overwhelming. I had just resigned from a position at ISU in which I believe I was being covertly terrorized and in which funds were not being properly handled. I was filing FOIA’s and being denied. Jay Groves was sending me his cell phone number and asking me to call him so we could discuss things while telling me he was or was not the contact for board members even though at the time he was listed as the contact. The Board isn’t running the show at ISU…someone else is running the Board and it is not the President. There are people at ISU who are not doing their jobs. If you do the arrests, please, please call me. I want to be present.
I just want to note that I’m about to put in a request to speak during Public Comment at the May 12, 2017 meeting, but I can’t figure out who I’m supposed to beg permission from. That little detail is lacking from the policy. I’ll e-mail Jay Groves and see what happens. In fact I can’t find any information about how to contact BOT members at all.
Yep. Tell them the Open Meetings Act changed in 2011. Their policy is from 1998!
ISU changed the policy on their website. See here: http://illinoisstate.edu/trustees/comment.php
That is progress…
MUCH better! I wonder who changed the policy since the Board hasn’t been scheduled to meet!