Just weeks after Champaign City Assistant Attorney Kathryn Cataldo sent out a warning letter about interacting with citizens at public meetings, Assistant City Attorney Laura Hall is already breaking the rules. The letter, which was sent by Hall’s subordinate to all of Champaign’s boards, commission, and subcommittees, advises board members and staff not to interact with the public during audience participation. To concerned citizens, this move by the Champaign Legal Department was seen as a way for city staff to dilute the effectiveness of public participation in their government, relieving city staff from the pressure of having to work toward the interests of the citizens that pay their salaries.
Hall engaged with a citizen who was speaking during public participation at the March 2nd 2020 meeting of the Champaign Human Relations Commission. She even told the citizen that he could come over to her desk from the podium. Then Hall, and another city staff member, Kris Koester, had a quiet aside during the public meeting that could not be heard by anyone attending. Human Relations Commission Chair Alissia Young said nothing, and the other board members also stayed quiet.
The memo sent out by the Champaign Legal Department was already disturbing, but now that it has been made clear that city staff can grant themselves exemptions from the rules whenever they please, their motives become entirely clear: control the public discussion. It seems that not only can the Champaign City Legal Department violate their own rules by about having back-and-forths with citizens during public meetings, they can even do it in a way the no one else is allowed to hear what is being discussed. If there is one thing we can be sure of when it comes to the City of Champaign: no one will be held accountable for anything.