Island Lake meeting mandate

After the Lake County state's attorney's office told Island Lake its committee structure violates the Open Meetings Act, the village board took steps Thursday night to comply.

Scott Puma, village attorney for Island Lake, said he was told the current three-member committees don't allow even two members to discuss issues without breaking the law, which has multiple provisions for keeping government in open forums. Puma also said the state's attorney said all committee meetings must be posted as village board meetings.

"I don't know if I entirely agree with that," Puma said. "Nonetheless, that's the Lake County state's attorney's opinion."

Puma said the recommendation was to change to five-member committees, but he worried that wouldn't solve the problem, either.

"At this point, the only answer is to have a seven-member committee," Puma said, noting a proposal awaits Gov. Rod Blagojevich's signature that would allow two committee members to discuss village business without violating the law.

Trustee Deborah Herrmann said a change was important now, whether or not the law would be eventually changed.

"As far as the state's attorney is concerned, we're in violation," she said. "This is the option that we have that is viable at this point."

Puma also offered the idea of changing the village board meeting schedule to two regular voting meetings per month, with committee-of-the-whole meetings in the interim.

"The voting meetings are sometimes a lot shorter," he said. "I thought it might work better."

Mayor Tom Hyde appeared to agree.

"It wouldn't change anything from your normal discussions," he told trustees. "If you have only one voting meeting a month, you will find things backing up."

The board asked Puma to draft an ordinance about the issue, which will be voted on at a later meeting.