Public Body Violated OMA for Discussing Topics in Closed Session

A member of the public submitted a request for review to the Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Counselor's office (PAC) alleging that the City of Lebanon (City) City Council (Council) violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) section 2(a) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/) during two separate public meetings by discussing topics in closed session that are not authorized by any of the exceptions to the general requirement that public bodies conduct public business openly. 

Section 2(a) of OMA requires that "[a]ll meetings of public bodies shall be open to the public unless excepted in subsection (c) and closed in accordance with Section 2a." Such exceptions “are in derogation of the requirement that public bodies meet in the open, and therefore, the exceptions are to be strictly construed, extending, only to subjects clearly within their scope.” 

The City Council relied on section 2(c)(5) of OMA to close the December 22, 2025, and February 9, 2026, meetings in relation to setting prices for the sale or lease of property. The section 2(c)(5) exception applies to the “purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired.”

Here, the Council’s closed session discussions at the December 22, 2025, and February 9, 2026, meetings concerned the merits of properties that the City potentially could purchase. Closed session discussion of those properties was authorized under Section 2(c)(5) of OMA. However, the Council’s discussion of its future plans for the current City Hall building were not authorized for closed session under Section 2(c)(5).

The PAC found that the Council violated OMA during its December 22, 2025, and February 9, 2026, meetings by improperly discussing the existing City Hall building in closed session. The PAC determined that the discussions of potential property purchases and future plans for current city buildings could have been separated from the discussion of the existing property.

The PAC directed the Council to remedy the violation by disclosing its closed session verbatim recordings and closed session minutes from the December 22, 2025, and February 9, 2026, meetings concerning the current City Hall building to the requestor and the public. The PAC allowed the Council to redact the portions of the recordings and minutes concerning the potential acquisition of other properties, which is covered by the closed meeting exception under Section 2(c)(5).

 

A copy of the decision can be found here.