Here’s Assistant Attorney General Matt Hartman reacting to McHenry Elementary School Board member Erik Sivertsen’s complaint about his board’s having held an illegal secret meeting:
The six-candidate taxpayer slate state its platform on this side of the palm card.
Ms. Kimbely Qualls
President
McHenry Elementary School District 15
1011 North Green Street
McHenry, Illinois 60050
RE: OMA Request for Review — 2017 PAC 47116
Dear Ms. Qualls:
The Public Access Bureau has received a Request for Review under section 3.5( a) of the Open Meetings Act ( OMA) ( 5 ILCS 120/ 3.5(a) (West 2014)) from Mr. Erik John Sivertsen alleging that the McHenry Elementary School District 15 Board of Education (Board) violated OMA.
Specifically, Mr. Sivertsen alleges that on January 26, 2017, the Boards Negotiations Committee (Committee) held a meeting without public notice in violation of section 2. 02(a) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/ 2. 02(a) (West 2014)).
The Public Access Bureau has determined that further action is warranted.
In order to evaluate this matter, we request that the Committee or its representative respond in writing to Mr. Sivertsen’s allegation that the Committee held a meeting on without proper posting of notice or an agenda in violation of section 2. 02(a) of OMA.
The six-candidate taxpayer slate state its platform on this side of the palm card.
In its response, the Committee should identify
- where it met on January 26, 2017,
- the total number of members of the Committee and
- the number of Committee members that were present,
- whether the committee had an agenda for the meeting, and
- where the notice and agenda were posted, if at all.
As required by section 3.5(b) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/ 3.5(b) (West 2014)), please provide this information and a copy of any agenda and minutes for the January 26, 2017, Committee meeting to our office within 7 working days after receipt of this letter.
As we conduct our review of this matter, we will notify you if we need to review additional records or information.
Please note that under the Act, we are required to forward a copy of any response from a public body to the requester and provide the requester an opportunity to reply. 5 ILCS 120/ 3.5(c) West 2014).
The Act also permits a public body to provide a redacted version of any response for release to the requester.
If you believe that other documents or information would be helpful to us as we review the issues, you may submit additional records or affidavits.
If you have any questions, you may contact me at (217) 782- 9054 or the Springfield address below.
Very truly yours,
Matt Hartman
Assistant Attorney General
Public Access Bureau
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The sample ballot for the McHenry Grade School Board election next Tuesday:
McHenry Grade School District ballot in 2017.
Kimberly Qualls ……
she gives me qualms!
Big Ones!
Erik is the member who is a no call no show at meetings but seems to care. maybe he should show up.
Kimberly Qualls is the Principal of Alden Hebron Elementary School in Alden Hebron School District 19.
Pay increase of 3.12% from $77,764 in 2014 to $80,193 in 2015.
It will be interesting how this plays out, because negotiation sessions between school board negotiatin
I am not making this up.
The Northwest Herald learned this the hard way seven years ago with Nippersink D-2, which we reported to the AG’s office over a failure to post meeting times of the negotiating team in advance.
While the Open Meetings Act does not say anything about this, negotiations are exempted from the Act under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.
For the record, I am 100 percent in agreement with Mr. Sivertsen that such meetings should be posted, even if the negotiations will be closed to the public.
But the law, unless it has been changed, most likely is on D-15’s side.
The story regarding how the newspaper learned the hard way about the exemption can be found at
http://www.nwherald.com/2010/05/27/d-2-didnt-violate-open-meetings-act-ag-says/ac2mci4/
Source is Open the Books widget.
The reform candidates are listed on the bottom of both ballots.
Candidate order as they appear on the ballot –
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2 year term (vote for 2):
Matthew Stauner – incumbent
Patrick Miller – incumbent
Jan Riemann – reformer
Jan Szymkowiak – reformer
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4 year term (vote for 4):
Amanda Geyer – incumbent
Kimberly Qualls – incumbent, Principal at Alden Hebron Elementary School in Alden Hebron District 19
Paul Santopadre – incumbent, 6th grade teacher in Lake Villa Elementary District 41.
Erik Sivertsen – incumbent, reformer
Hugo Mercado – reformer
Kevin McConville – reformer
Mark Jaeger – reformer
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Paul Santopadre was formerly the principal of Oliver Martin Elementary School.
Now he is a 6th grade teacher at Hooper Elementary in Lindenhurst.
2015 – $68,010
2014 – $118,910
Per Open the Books widget.
http://www.OpenTheBooks.com > Widget > State > Salaries > Recipient Name > scroll down to Illinois > Recipient Name: Santopadre Paul
Thus pay decreased 43% from 2014 to 2015.
I wil retype my last comment, which for some reason got garbled:
It will be interesting how this plays out, because negotiation sessions between school board negotiating teams and union leaders is exempt from the Open Meetings Act.
I am not making this up.
The Northwest Herald learned this the hard way seven years ago with Nippersink D-2, which we reported to the AG’s office over a failure to post meeting times of the negotiating team in advance.
While the Open Meetings Act does not say anything about this, negotiations are exempted from the Act under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.
For the record, I am 100 percent in agreement with Mr. Sivertsen that such meetings should be posted, even if the negotiations will be closed to the public. But the law, unless it has been changed, most likely is on D-15’s side.
The story regarding this exemption can be found at
http://www.nwherald.com/2010/05/27/d-2-didnt-violate-open-meetings-act-ag-says/ac2mci4/
The article does not mention the exact clause / wording in the IELRA.
“(115 ILCS 5/18)
(from Ch. 48, par. 1718)
Sec. 18. Meetings.
The provisions of the Open Meetings Act shall not apply to collective bargaining negotiations and grievance arbitrations conducted pursuant to this Act.
(Source: P.A. 83-1014.)”
House Bill 1530 (HB 1530) was signed into law as Public Act 83-1014 on December 27, 1983 by Governor Jim Thompson, and took effect January 1, 1984.
PA 83-1014 created the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA) which granted collective bargaining rights to educational employees.
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A companion bill, Senate Bill 0536 (SB 0536) was also signed into law as Public Act 1012 (PA 1012) on December 27, 1983 by Governor Jim Thompson, and took effect July 1, 1984.
PA 83-1012 created the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act which granted collective bargaining rights to public sector employees other than educational, police, and fire.
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The IEA & IFT supported Republican Jim Thompson in the 1982 Governor election over Democrat Adlai Stephenson III.
That was narrowest margin of victory in an Illinois Governor race of all time, both prior and since then.
In exchange, Governor Jim Thompson signed the IELRA, granting Illinois educational employees some of the strongest collective bargaining rights in the United States.
In the ensuing 35 years teacher salaries have soared, far outpacing inflation.
In addition to the state laws granting collective bargaining rights to public sector workers in 1983 (taking effect in 1984), there were a few other other notable events in Illinois politics and government in the early 1980’s:
The cut back referendum passed in 1980 creating the cutback amendment, which reduced State House members from 177 to 118.
The new law took effect in the 1982 election, resulting in the 83rd General Assembly (1983 – 1984) having 59 fewer members in the House.
Using data from the 1980 census (held every 10 years), Michael Madigan drew the legislative maps (State House & State Senate) in 1981 that were used to elect more Democrats to office in the 1982 elections.
As a result he was elected House Speaker for the first time in January 1983.
Collective bargaining rights for public sector workers was very limited prior to the passage of the IELRA & IPLRA.