Elgin councilman pushes for remote attendance

With a vacant seat on the Elgin City Council, it's more important than ever accommodations be made for councilmen's remote attendance at meetings, some officials argue.

Councilman Rich Dunne said it's important to ensure city business runs as expediently as possible.

"I don't want to turn it into anybody not showing up for whatever whim," he said. "I think being at the meeting is important, but there are times where something precludes it."

The council has eight members after Anna Moeller resigned last weekend to be sworn in as the new Democratic state representative for the 43rd District.

The Open Meetings Act allows members of public bodies to attend meetings by audio or video conference when they can't be there in person due to illness, emergencies, or reasons related to employment or the public body's business, said Natalie Bauer, communications director for the attorney general's office.

A quorum of members must be physically present for anyone else to attend remotely.

The Elgin City Council has tackled the topic in the past, but it never told staff members how to follow through, Mayor David Kaptain said.

"I absolutely think it's time to go forward with it," he said.

The topic most recently came up in February, when Dunne was absent for a training session at the National Emergency Training Center in Maryland. Dunne works as a fire program specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Two agenda items were tabled to allow Dunne to vote at the next meeting.

Dunne also missed a meeting in October 2012 when he was deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Dunne said he asked for the topic to be placed on the agenda for discussion at next Wednesday's city council meeting. Emergencies are unpredictable, for him or any other council member, he said.

"They (the city) issue us computers, they issue us cellphones - they issue us the equipment to be able to do it."

There are plenty of examples where remote attendance has taken place at suburban board meetings, including Naperville, Geneva, Batavia, Itasca, East Dundee, Prospect Heights, College of DuPage, Community Unit District 300, and the Lake County Board.