What's Unusual About Hinsdale Meetings? Leader Responds

HINSDALE, IL – If you think local board meetings are a chance to get responses from public officials, you would be often wrong.

Hinsdale is an exception.

Say what you want about Hinsdale Village President Tom Cauley, but he does engage with public commenters at meetings.

And it's not just on the easy issues. Two years ago, he responded to comments from a family that was suing over a loved one serving as a local firefighter who took her own life.

In recent meetings, he has replied to the parents of 14-year-old Sean Patrick Richards, who died after a Fuller's Car Wash employee struck him with a car. At one point, Richards' mother described the village as "complicit" with a history of crashes at the wash.

Cauley's practice stands in sharp contrast to the Hinsdale High School District 86 board. Its members sit stone-faced as commenters air their views about school issues.

Other area school boards, including those in Elmhurst and La Grange, do the same. That's because they all follow a school board association-recommended policy against directly responding to public commenters.

Area mayors and village presidents, including those in Darien, Burr Ridge, Western Springs and La Grange, respond to some comments. But the exchanges are limited compared with Hinsdale's. The Elmhurst City Council has a school board-like policy to stay silent.

Even at the federal level, representatives have largely stopped the practice of town hall meetings, where constituents can make comments and ask questions.

After tea party protesters disrupted Democrats' town halls in 2010, many Democrats ended such exchanges. Some Republicans followed suit in 2017 after anti-Trump demonstrators caused a ruckus.

In the United Kingdom, members of Parliament can ask the prime minister questions publicly every Wednesday.

American presidents rarely engage in such dialogues with the opposition. Barack Obama took questions in 2010 during a GOP congressional retreat, but never did so again. Likewise, Donald Trump met with Democratic and Republican leaders in a live session at least once.

In some ways, Hinsdale is more secretive than other towns, at least with Patch. Cauley rarely responds to Patch's messages for comments. His last statement to the media outlet was about the decision to place a politician's sign on a fire truck during a parade. Patch has not been able to reach Village Manager Kathleen Gargano for years.

But if constituents want a response from Cauley, they are likely to get one during public comments.