The Morris Daily Herald has published an article by Mike Farrell entitled "Extra alderman's involvement could violate law." The article is not available online.
In the article, Farrell explains why Alderman Don Matteson was not permitted to speak when he attended a meeting of a committee of which he is not a member.
Unbelievable? Yes, according to Mike Farrell, our city attorney has recommended that aldermen not be permitted to speak at committee meetings!
The explanation given by our pricey city attorney is that a fourth alderman would make a "majority of a quorum and could be a violation of the Open Meetings Act."
The Open Meetings Act, according to guidelines published by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is intended "to ensure that the actions of public bodies be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly."
The Act, with few exceptions, requires that "all meetings of public bodies shall be open to the public." A "meeting" is defined as "any gathering of a majority of a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business."
Most, if not all, Morris city council committees consist of three alderman members. Thus, two committee members would constitute a majority of a quorum. This simply triggers the requirement (which the city complies with) that the meeting be open to the public, and that there must be public notice of the meeting.
Nothing in the Open Meetings Act remotely suggests that any individual, alderman or private citizen, is prohibited from speaking at a public meeting.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Open Meetings Act website
Read comments by Skeptical Morris
43 comments:
Scott is still thinking he's on the fire truck.
I can't believe the alderman and mike farrell buy this crap.
Ask for donations to clean up a park, then consider a police union contract that gives retirees over $30,000 in benefits. Dick has Martha and Paulson both thinking like him. Then the chief calls this a fair contract, does he get the same benefits? Sure he does that's why it sounds fair.
Nothing in the Open Meetings Act bars an alderman or anyone else from speaking at a public meeting.
Belt is full of crap and he knows it. This is even more outrageous than what he did in Gardner.
Hypothetically, if the mayor, city attorney and state's attorney all met, let's say, on a fire truck, for example, would that be a public meeting?
Scooter to Aldermen: Shut up and don't ask questions.
The really sad part is that the alderman do as instructed.
Mike Farrell gobbles up everything thing he is spoon-fed by Dick and Scooter, no matter how ridiculous it sounds to everyone else.
Belt has egg on his face again.
Shut up and just pay me $5100.00 a week. And if you talk about in a meeting your breaking the law.
To 6:36, i think depends on if the meeting was called into order.
Our city government is an embarrassment to the community.
To 6:36, in your hypothetical, does the city attorney bill for his time on the firetruck?
Now that the MDDP and the Tractor Adventure use public funds, are their meetings now subject to the Open Meetings Act?
To 6:36, Scott would call that a super super duper duper quorum.
Hey, can we please keep this positive?
Don Matteson needs to insist that Scott Belt be removed for making such a ridiculous remark.
Does Mike Farrel take time to review anything before he prints. The people at the paper must feel embarrassed by such inept journalism.
Once again, the Morris Daily Herald fails to recognize questionable behavior by our city officials, and even defends their actions, no questions asked.
There is nothing in the Open Meeting Act that says an alderman can't speak at a committee meeting. Dick just wants to silence anyone who dares to question his policies. It's about time Dick and Scott stopped acting like thugs and bullies.
Scooter should read the quote by FDR at the bottom of this blog.
Sledge, thank you for providing a forum for exposing the misdeeds of our local officials. The Morris Herald have given them a free pass for far too long.
http://votemerc08.blogspot.com/
Will Tricky Dickie do anything to stay in power? Will Scooter say anything to keep that fat paycheck rolling in? We need leaders who will work for the citizens of Morris. When will one of the aldermen step up?
I think only the Mayor should be allowed to speak at the meetings. He is the person in charge and the others should follow his lead. We should make it madatory that only the mayor can talk and I think he should be in office alot longer so he can get something done. Why dont they make it like a job that you hold forever?
Scott, i think your confused about two different learning points in your life. One that your folks taught you when you were little, and the other when you were in law school. Children are to be seen and not heard, NOT my elected alderman. This advice is free so don't be expecting a bill.
Dick and Scott know what is best for us. We should all just shut up and let them do what they want without questioning anything that they say or do. It must be very annoying for them to have to answer questions from voters or taxpayers or aldermen.
Anyone who dares to question Dick and Scott must surely be an "internet bully" like the Morris Herald talks about.
Or maybe people who question Dick and Scott were made to do it by that evil Curt Mercadante. Only Curt is crafty enough to think that anyone in city hall could be doing something they shouldn't be doing.
Curt must be making people say these bad things, like they are Marionette puppets that he controls.
Dear 7:57 Ha, HAHA, HAHAHA, LOL, LOLDO, LOLROTFDO!!!
BOB ELLESON FOR MAYOR
I left comments on the Morris Daily Herald website under the articles for the most recent city council meeting and the Gus Macker. My comments expressed disagreement about Belt telling aldermen to to speak at meetings and about the Macker tournament, but I considered them to be quite tame and did not make any personal attacks. I believe that they were well within the Herald's guidelines for publication. Yet, after two days, the Herald has not published them.
Maybe the Herald doesn't wish to publish comments critical of the city council or the Gus Macker. The Herald must think I am one of those "internet bullies"
mentioned in an opinion column because I disagree with their views.
the Mdh has been a sponsor of Gus from the beginning.
Skepticalmorris is back!
Shhh....Anonymous 9:34 AM...now you've let my secret out :)
Did the MDH really use the term "internet bully"? Who were they talking about?
To 9:54: The Morris Daily Herald published an opinion column on June 7, 2007 by Mark Johnson which criticizes "Internet bullies hiding behind assumed names..."
(Internet Bully is not my real name)
Instead of posting anonymously on these blogs, perhaps people should start writing their own Voice of the People columns...calling and emailing their friends and family.
The City Attorney and Mayor are very good at getting their supporters to write in to the paper and attack opponents publicly.
It's time for taxpayers and opponents of bad government to start doing the same.
Otherwise - actions like these, in addition to them trying to utilize more than $12 million in TIF funds for a new city hall - will go unnoticed...and we'll all be left picking up the tab.
I think the Morris Daily Herald should hire a competent proof reader. The other night I was reading the paper, one page had the date as Tuesday June 5, the next page had the date as Monday June 5. The MDH has truly become a joke among the community. A few weeks ago, in the police briefs of MDH, the article said how a man fled on foot from the police and after 200 YEARS he surrendered!!! Wow, 200 years is a long time to run; 200 YARDS sounds a little more accurate. And let's not forget the "thank you" announcement from Dave Pott's family, that was placed under a picutre of a couple. The problem was, the people in the picture were NOT Dave Potts & his wife, but in fact, ANOTHER couple celebrating their anniversary. How do such stupid errors continue to be made? I have heard many times that the MDH would like to become more like the Chicago papers, but with stupid mistakes & misinformation, the MDH seems more like the local paper from Hee Haw. Talk about podunk USA!!!!
Please, no internet bullying. Only post compliments on the internet.
At the next city meeting, Dick is planning on having the Grundy Bank come to cook hot dogs. He & Scooter hope everyone's mouths will be too stuffed to speak.
When's Dick going to get the weiners out of his mouth and start doing what's best for the city?
Dick is a pain in my a$$.
More secrets. City of Morris does not comply with Freedom of Information Act requests. Read full report at http://www.bettergov.org/policy.html
I thought our 2 alderman did a fine job on the Dick Steele show this morning. They both seem like friendly guys.
Did the meat cutters union handle union contracts like Dick is handling the police union contract? How long are the cops going to go without a contract? This is the Mayor that is such good friends with the carpenters union. What do you think about him now carpenters? UNION BROTHERHOOD, let's stick together, huh?
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