LTHS May Release Closed Meeting Recording

LA GRANGE, IL – The Lyons Township High School board plans to vote Monday on whether to release the recording of a closed meeting in January.

In April, the attorney general's office issued a rare binding opinion directing the school board to release the minutes and recording of the Jan. 23 meeting.

The meeting was about the board's plan to sell its 71 acres in Willow Springs. It was a move that drew much opposition from neighbors and area public bodies.

The board can appeal the attorney general's opinion in court. Instead, the board is voting on releasing the minutes and recording.

At the January meeting, the board rejected the two bids for the property, saying the offers violated the school's terms and conditions. But then-board President Kari Dillon promised the board would continue to negotiate with the bidders.

As opposition mounted, the board abandoned its plan to sell the land, at least for the time being. That was in the weeks before the April 4 school board election.

Through its attorney, the board admitted in March it held several closed sessions on the Willow Springs land last year without citing the proper exception under the state Open Meetings Act.

To justify its closed session in January, the board cited the exception under the open meetings law that allowed going behind closed doors to discuss setting the price of the land.

But the attorney general's office said it listened to the recording and found that the discussion was about the market and sale of the wooded property.

The discussion, the attorney general said, only included brief mentions of changing the price in the future. But the office said the board did not actively consider that possibility. As a result, the attorney general issued its ruling.

In December, the school had priced the land to sell to an industrial developer, despite Willow Springs zoning rules that bar such uses.

Since Jan. 23, the board has stayed silent at meetings about the land, only issuing a couple of formal statements outside of sessions.

The high school is not the only local public body to get in hot water with the attorney general.

Last month, the agency issued a nonbinding opinion against the La Grange School District 102 board for discussing a conflict-of-interest allegation against a member behind closed doors.

The District 102 board has yet to decide whether to release the recording in question.