Opinion Issued of Open Meetings Act Violation; County Board Will Make Closed Session Minutes Available

Effingham County Board members Monday voted to make available the recordings of two closed sessions of the Board concerning Altamont Ambulance Service. The decision came after the Illinois Attorney General's Office ruled the discussions should have taken place in open session and that the closed session talks violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

County Board Chairman Jim Niemann said the court case with Altamont Ambulance over alleged violations of the agreement between the ambulance service and the County has been concluded, and since the closed sessions were regarding matters of the settlement, he was asking the Board to make the recordings of those closed sessions public. Niemann said a portion of one of the discussions would not be released since it concerns the settlement agreement with the ambulance service. He said the audiotapes of the sessions should be up on the County website on Tuesday.

The recorded sessions are from County Board meetings held on February 24 and March 29 of this year.

The Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General's Office was contacted by a citizen alleging the violation. The Counselor's office worked with Niemann and with State's Attorney Bryan Kibler to respond to the request for information, leading to the determination that a violation occurred.

Also Monday, the Board amended the ambulance ordinance, naming Abbott Ambulance for the exclusive provision of emergency ambulance service. Niemann said the action was "housekeeping" and that Fire Chief Joe Holomy had asked for the clarification so Abbott could participate in MABAS District 54, which involves a number of emergency services agencies in the region.

The Board also agreed to expand the membership of the Board's Ambulance Oversight Committee by one to include a telecommunicator supervisor representative. Someone will be named to the committee next month to fill the slot.