Village Attorney Karl Ottosen Releases Statement on Alleged Meetings Act Violations

The following is a statement from Oswego Village Attorney Karl Ottosen regarding Village Trustee David Schlaker's request for review from the Illinois Attorney General's office of alleged Open Meetings Act violations at the Village Board level. It is presented here unedited.

As Oswego's Village Attorney I have advised all the Village's elected officials of the requirements of the Open Meetings Act.

If there has been a violation it will be addressed properly. However, everyone should understand a couple simple points. First, the law does not prohibit your elected officials from talking to each other about their individual positions on issues outside of meetings. What cannot happen is for a majority of a quorum to gather in one place physically or electronically to decide what they will do in the future.

The entire board of trustees can gather outside of a meeting and talk about Village business which has already occurred. Thus, just because three or more elected officials are in the same place does not violate the law. Only if the group discusses what they wish to do as a group in the future is there a possible violation. Second, the failure of the Village President to discuss a personnel matter in public is not evidence of any inappropriate action.

 Mr. Adams was appointed to his position for a term ending April 30, 2011. He is also working pursuant to a contract with the same ending date, as I recall. I will say only that Mr. LeClercq advised all his appointed officers, including me, that at the end of our terms we were all subject to review and no one was guarenteed to be reappointed. It is inappropriate to comment further publicly about a particular appointee's future. Mr. LeClercq did not do so and I shall not either.

 If one or more trustees believed that Mr. LeClercq did not intend to reappoint someone and decided to tell the appointee of that understanding, it should be emphasized that the position is in fact a Village President's appointment. It is not a Board decision. So hypothetically, assume for a moment three trustees were present with me as Village Attorney, and at least one advised me last August that the Village President upon re-election did not intend to reappoint me. Would I believe a violation of the Open Meeting Act was occurring or had occurred?

 If the message was delivered indicating that the Village President had individually told one or more of the trustees that he was not intending to reappoint me, and the trustees were advising me of the President's position then I would not have believed a violation had occurred. Had the message been that the three of them had decided or had met with the Village President and decided that my time as Village Attorney was coming to an end, then I would have believed a violation of the OMA likely occurred.

 Further investigation would be needed to determine exactly what happened and whether a violation had really taken place. I write this only to say as Village Attorney I represent the Village; not the Village President or individual trustees. I give legal opinions; not political ones. The Village Board has as a group worked hard to ensure its actions comply with the law. Not knowing the full facts of all the issues raised by the allegations, I will not give an opinion of whether any violations occurred. Just keep in mind it is possible none did and the issue should not be pre-judged.

 The new provisions of the OMA regarding electronic communications have not been fully tested and clarified by court interpretation. Therefore one attorney's opinion will differ with another's with respect to what is permissible communication between elected officials by email. Certainly some communication between individual members of elected boards is permissible. Just as it is for the same members to meet in person, communicate by mail or telephone.

 I am sure that if the Attorney General's office finds any inappropriate action occurred, the proper corrective actions will take place. As Village Attorney I assure you this will be addressed fully and the Village will work with the Attorney General's office to ensure the investigator receives full cooperation by all.