La Grange Prevails In Open Meetings Battle Over Affordable Housing Panel

LA GRANGE, IL – The attorney general's office last week sided with La Grange in response to a resident's complaint that the village's housing committee is not following the state's open meetings law.

The village's lawyer, Ben Schuster, announced the victory at Monday's Village Board meeting. The next morning, Jonathan Robinson, who filed the complaint, forwarded Patch the attorney general's opinion.

The attorney general ruled that La Grange's housing task force is not deemed a public body as defined under the Open Meetings Act.

According to the attorney general, the task force members were not formally appointed and the village does not control the group's agenda.

Schuster declared the matter resolved.

"The task force will do the work it desires to do and make any recommendations it has to the Village Board," the attorney told the Village Board. "It's not accountable to this body."

In the village's response to the attorney general, Schuster said the village's role for the housing panel shifted from what the elected board originally envisioned.

Schuster told the attorney general that Robinson was unaware of what occurred outside board meetings.

"Village staff and Village officials further discussed the creation of the Task Force and decided not to move ahead with the creation of the Task Force in the iteration that was discussed on March 23 and motioned for by the Village Board on April 27," Schuster told the attorney general.

Because the village lacked enough staff to support the committee, officials thought it was best for the group to be resident-driven without an exact purpose, Schuster said.

In an email, Robinson acknowledged the attorney general's decision.

"The irony is that the entire decision rests on the Village’s claim that, after the formal vote to create the task force, they later discussed the matter, changed their minds, and decided not to proceed," he said in an email. "The (attorney general) accepted this, holding that the Village has the right to change its mind, and focused only on events after the public vote to conclude that no public body was ever formed."

Robinson continued, "In short, conducting the real decision-making outside public view insulated the Village from accountability."

Officials wanted a committee to explore ways to increase affordable housing.

Only 13 percent of local housing is considered affordable. That is higher than many comparably wealthy towns, but lower than the state as a whole.