Public Notice required on all matters being voted.

Attorney General Rules Rutland Violated Open Meetings Law

The Illinois Attorney General's Office ruled Friday that the Rutland Township Board violated the State's Open Meetings Act in October when it passed a controversial Investment Policy Ordinance last October and simultaneously replaced Supervisor Margaret Sanders as the Township Investment Officer with a single vote.  The Attorney General said the Board should hold another vote about replacing Sanders for investments.
The First Electric Newspaper complained Rutland violated the OMA when its Oct. 14 agenda listed a vote to adopt the investment  policy but not one on picking a new person to execute it.  Board Attorney Ron Roeser of Elgin cited court decisions that  "germane" action doesn't need a separate notice.  However AG's attorneys agreed with FEN that an Open Meetings amendment last year outdated the old cases and now requires public notice "of all matters upon which a public body would be taking final action."
Supervising Attorney Josh Jones wrote, "The appointment of Trustee [Fred] Bulmahn was not a necessary result of adopting the Ordinance," continuing, "We agree [with FEN] that 'the two are clearly separate and distinct matters and should have been so noticed.'"
At last report, Rutland Township has enough money saved up to run for about a year and half  without any new funds.  While some townships in Illinois have written investment policies, FEN's been unable to locate any other with an investment officer different from the Supervisor.
Earlier this week in a bitter budget battle, trustees cut Assessor Jan Siers' requested new budget back from $186,000 to $162,000, saying a roughly 10 percent increase from the past one was enough.  Siers argued that in a quadrennial reassessment year it wasn't.  "I'm not going to cut salaries," she said.  The Township budget this year was approved at $326,000 and the Road District's at $535,000.

Posted by First Electric Newspaper LLC at 10:25 AM No comments : Links to this post

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