Just hours after unanimously passing an ordinance that grants “extraordinary powers” to Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City is scrambling to explain itself to citizens and news outlets across the state of Illinois. In less than 12 hours, Champaign gained a moderate amount of national ‘fame’ for being (possibly) the first and only locality in the country to adopt measures which would allow for banning gun sales as a result of the pandemic.
Many of the measures adopted by the Champaign City Council appear to be constitutional violations and/or violations of Illinois State law, according to Illinois Press Association attorney Don Craven. One of the more noticeable items listed in the emergency ordinance was the ability of the City Council to hold meetings that would seem to flagrantly violate the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
The OMA is a state measure for public bodies designed to force transparency and accountability. It attempts to achieve this goal by requiring things like open and publicly accessible governmental meetings which must allow for public input. The City of Champaign, however, has simply voted to exempt itself from the OMA law in their emergency order.
In a PODCAST with WDWS reporter Scott Beatty, Champaign City Manager Dorothy David attempts to explain: “The purpose of the order is to give the City the flexibility so that we can thoughtfully and responsibly continue to serve the community.” David goes on the recite part of the OMA perfectly: “The City Council is required by the Open Meetings Act to convene in the Council Chambers to hold regular meetings. We do not have rules that allow for electronic participation in those meetings.” The ordinance adopted by the Champaign City Council very simply fixes this problem by determining that they can meet electronically.
This measure would appear to make sense during a pandemic, but according to Craven, the City of Champaign can’t simply decide to bypass Illinois State law. Craven argues that however well-intentioned, the portion of the ordinance allowing the City Council to meet electronically would violate the Illinois Open Meetings Act: “You need a physical quorum of the members of the public body…in order to have relief from the quorum provision of the Open Meetings Act, it would take a legislative change.”
The OMA also requires that government meetings be held at places “which are convenient and open to the public” and that “any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials” at the meeting.