On March 19th, 2020, the Champaign County Board attempted to hold their first electronic board meeting in an effort to promote social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. District 4 County Board Member Jim McGuire called the virtual meeting an “utter failure”, due to constant audio feedback and distortion, disconnections, and difficulties communicating.
What added to the travesty of a meeting was County Executive Darlene Kloeppel’s inexplicable insistence on skipping legally required steps. Kloeppel started the meeting late, then pushed through taking attendance even when some board boards were not fully connected. She skipped counting votes for agenda items because waiting to hear answers from some board members connected from home and it was inconvenient to await their answer.
Probably most unsettling, Kloeppel attempted to prevent some members of the public from participating in the meeting. The same type of electronic participation was expected from citizens who wished to address the Board. In Illinois, convenient access and audience participation in public meetings is a protected right under the Open Meetings Act. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker had lifted the physical quorum requirement on the members of the public body during the COVID-19 pandemic, which allows for members to participate and vote electronically. However, the public body still must follow the convenient access and public participation provisions at every meeting for citizens.
When District 3 County Board Member Aaron Esry noticed that Darlene Kloeppel had skipped multiple citizens who wanted to participate in public input, he brought the issue to the attention of the board. Kloeppel, however, told Esry that audience participation was over. Kloeppel then directed members of the public to disconnect from the Zoom conferencing application because the extra participants were making it more difficult for her to run the meeting. It took the urging of two more Board members: Chris Stohr of District 10, and Kyle Patterson of District 7, before Kloeppel finally agreed to return to public participation.
A more detailed article on this meeting, including a video, can be found here: Champaign County COVID-19 Virtual Board Meeting “Utter Failure”