Story posted Thursday, February 4, 2010
State's Attorney Can't Find Open Meetings Violation
By RICHARD MAYER Assistant Managing Editor
After a lengthy investigation by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office looking into whether or not Buffalo Grove trustees violated the Open Meetings Act last spring over the a new off-track betting facility, it was determined no violation occurred.
The State's Attorney's Office investigated a complaint that trustees conducted meeting(s) by email between Apr. 29-May 2, 2009 concerning the rescheduling of two agenda items, which was not properly noticed and was not open to the public.
The email chain originated with an Apr. 29 email from Village Manager Bill Brimm to the six trustees, Village President Elliott Hartstein, the two trustees-elect who were sworn into office May 4, the deputy village manager and village attorney.
The email advised those individuals that two agenda items---zoning special use and text amendments to permit an off-track betting facility---were being rescheduled from May 4 to May 18 to accommodate the request of the incoming trustees, who opposed the proposal.
The zoning special use item was eventually placed back on the May 4 agenda, which according to the State's Attorney's Office, was properly noticed and distributed pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, and the text amendment was placed on the June 1 agenda.
In a letter sent to Village Attorney Michael Zimmerman from Assistant State's Attorney Sara Hynes of the Civil Actions Bureau, they were not able to find any conclusive evidence that three members of the village board participated in a meeting by means of email communication or any other means to discuss changing the date for the special use zoning amendment back to May 4.
Hynes added the series of emails sent by Trustee Jeff Braiman, DeAnn Glover and now former Trustee Bruce Kahn in response to then trustee-elect Lisa Stone's May 1 email objecting to the "last minute move" placing the OTB special use and text amendments back on the May 4 agenda, and requesting both issues be placed on the June 1 meeting agenda, could be construed a gathering of a majority of quorum.
Stone learned of the date change for consideration of the OTB special use zoning amendments after the packets for the May 4 meeting were distributed to all trustees and trustees-elect on Apr. 30.
She spoke to a resident who informed her the matter was rescheduled because of the expected absence of Trustee Jeff Berman at the May 18 meeting. On May 1, she sent an email to trustees calling this change "a last-minute move" and requested the vote for both items be moved to June 1.
Braiman responded to Stone's email stating he was "disappointed that we can't resolve the entire issue on Monday (May 4) and do not think it's necessary to defer the text amendment," noting that Stone and the other new trustee, Beverly Sussman, "have had ample opportunity to review and decide" the issue.
Stone believed voting on the ordinance should not come on the same night as a change in government. The OTB special use zoning amendment was discussed and passed at the May 4 village board meeting.
According to Hynes, trustees participated in an electronic "gathering;" however, it is not clear that "public business" was discussed. Hynes states in her letter to Zimmerman that she cautions the village board to carefully review the requirements of the Act and that letter to ensure no future violations of the Act occur.
"The decision by the state's attorney did not surprise me and this substantiates my position that it shouldn't have been an issue," said Braiman. "Hopefully this will bring a resolution to this matter and we can move forward."
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