AG: Tollway violated the Open Meetings Act with settlement vote

Nine months ago, Illinois tollway directors ended a closed session and voted on about $68 million in spending, including a controversial $25 million lawsuit settlement over a botched contract.

But they first neglected to tell members of the public they could return to the boardroom and witness the proceedings.

Now, the Illinois attorney general’s Public Access Bureau has concluded the tollway board violated several sections of the Open Meetings Act at that Aug. 29, 2024 session.

The ruling comes after the Daily Herald asked the state’s top lawyer to review the board’s actions.

“The Illinois tollway is committed to transparency and to ensuring its board meetings are fully open to the public, in person and online,” spokesman Dan Rozek said Thursday. The agency “fully accepts the findings and recommendations regarding a one-time oversight and will ensure board meetings continue to operate in alignment with the Open Meetings Act.”

The issue arose when directors took the atypical step of going into executive session before voting on agenda items.

Employees, visitors and a Daily Herald reporter left the board room. After about 50 minutes, directors resumed open session without notifying people waiting outside and voted on various contracts and purchases.

The Daily Herald returned to the room as directors were leaving and learned the meeting was over.

The tollway previously contended that since the livestream meeting video was restarted after executive session and a recording was available after adjournment, the board had complied with the law.

Officials also noted the executive session was moved up because a “fulsome discussion of important matters” was needed and some directors had other commitments.

In its “haste to conclude the board's business as quickly as possible due to time constraints and the need to retain a physical quorum,” the board “inadvertently failed to inform in-person members of the public” it was back in open session.

It was “an inadvertent oversight, not a violation of the OMA, because the Board substantially complied with the OMA,” attorneys said in 2024.

The attorney general’s Public Access Bureau disagreed.

“The board's failure to inform the members of the public who were physically present that it had resumed the open session of the meeting precluded those individuals from attending and observing the reconvened portion of the meeting in violation of sections 2(a) and 2.01 of OMA,” Bureau Chief Laura Harter wrote.

“Although the board resumed its livestream in time to take votes on its items under consideration, the meeting was still closed as to the individuals waiting outside the board room. Therefore, the board also violated section 2(e) by voting on those items without ensuring the meeting was fully open to the public.”

One hot-button item directors approved was a $25 million settlement with Judlau Construction of New York.

The tollway in 2023 hired Judlau for an I-88/I-290 interchange project mistakenly thinking it was the low bidder. The actual low bidder — once a state regulation giving Illinois businesses a 4% reduction was applied — was a Chicago firm. Judlau subsequently sued.

The OMA misstep raises some serious concerns, state Sen. Laura Murphy of Des Plaines said.

“Transparency and accountability are the foundation of good government, and the public has a right to know how decisions that affect their daily lives and taxpayer dollars are being made. Actions taken behind closed doors erode trust and undermine the democratic process,” said Murphy, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee.

“By violating the Open Meetings Act, the Illinois tollway board of directors have violated the public’s trust.”

Tollway directors affirmed actions from August 2024 at their Thursday meeting.

Gridlock alert

Expect angst on Route 14 between Cary and Fox River Grove now through late November. IDOT crews are resurfacing the corridor and adding ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, which means intermittent lane closures.

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