The Illinois attorney general’s office Monday warned Evanston aldermen about weighing formal decisions over email, responding to legal questions first raised as they appointed a new panel last year.
In a letter to City Council, Assistant Attorney General Steve Silverman said aldermen did not violate the state’s Open Meetings Act when they used email to discuss potential members of the Rental Unit Licensing Committee, which was tasked with creating a licensing process for Evanston landlords. However, Silverman told aldermen they run the risk of breaking the transparency law — intentionally or unintentionally — when they hash out “public business” from behind their keyboards.
“We therefore caution the members of the City Council to bear in mind the requirements of OMA, as well as the public policy favoring the open discussion of matters affecting the public interest, before engaging in such e-mail communications,” Silverman wrote to the aldermen, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Daily.
Howard Handler, government affairs director for the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors, had asked the attorney general’s office to look into whether aldermen skirted the Open Meetings Act when they emailed back and forth about potential committee members Jan. 23, 2012, and Feb. 13, 2012. The attorney general’s office found the council shared “recommendations and opinions of candidates” over email, but the exchanges could not be defined as a meeting under Illinois law.
Silverman noted that Illinois’ appeals courts have not yet ruled on how much time must pass between public officials’ emails before they are consistent with the state’s definition of a meeting.
Handler, who had asked to join the committee but was rejected, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. In April 2012, he said aldermen may not have violated the Open Meetings Act but instead the “spirit of the law.”
Handler’s request came on the heels of two other controversial nominations to the panel. Landlord Joshua Braun and Betsi Burns, a former Northwestern official who now works for Loyola University Chicago, were also denied seats on the committee.
The Daily reported in April 2012 that Ald. Judy Fiske (1st) pushed to disqualify both candidates, writing in an email to Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl that Burns “certainly hasn’t done us any favors in the media.” The mayor typically consults aldermen about committee appointments in private, a longstanding practice she has defended as ensuring “respect in the public forum” and the council’s confidence in its selections.
— Patrick Svitek
