Village board recordings at issue in criminal case

A Lake County judge said Wednesday he will decide next week if recordings of two closed sessions of the Island Lake village board are relevant to the criminal case against a politically-connected village employee.

Prosecutors in the case against Sharon Hyde want to hear the comments of the Island Lake mayor and members of the board as they considered a resolution seemingly designed to undercut the case against Hyde.

Hyde, the wife of former Island Lake Mayor Thomas Hyde, is charged with collecting more than $100,000 in pay for hours she did not work as director of a village-operated day care center.

On March 11, just two weeks after Circuit Judge Fred Foreman refused to dismiss the charges against Hyde, the board passed a resolution declaring she was a salaried employee not subject to accounting for the hours she worked.

Hyde's defense attorneys want to use the resolution as evidence that no crime was committed, while prosecutors contend the action was a political maneuver on the part of Hyde's supporters.

Assistant State's Attorney Christen Bishop asked Foreman on Wednesday to give her access to recordings of the board's executive sessions on Feb. 25 and March 11 when the resolution was discussed.

“Maybe there were things said in those sessions by trustees that we are unaware of,” Bishop told Foreman. “We do not believe the resolution is relevant, but if the court thinks it is, the whole picture should be painted.”

Donald Anderson, the attorney for the Island Lake board, argued the state Open Meetings Act bars the release of executive session recordings or minutes until the board determines there is no longer a need to keep the proceedings confidential.

“The recordings are not subject to discovery in any administrative or judicial proceeding unless the board has made that determination,” Anderson said. “The statute is very clear on that issue, and the board has made no such determination.”

Hyde is charged with collecting the money in dispute between 1999 and 2009 while serving as director of the Creative Playtime Preschool, a position she holds with the village.

Mayor Debbie Herrmann has said publicly that the resolution was crafted as a show of support for Hyde and is a statement on the part of a majority of the board.

Both sides indicated Wednesday they may be willing to compromise on the issue of the executive session recordings by having Foreman listen to them in private and then decide if they are relevant to the case against Hyde.

Foreman said Wednesday he intended to rule on the issue at the next scheduled court hearing of the case set for Oct. 27.