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March 6, 2021

College of DuPage, DuPage County, feature

COD Board schooled on Public Comment requirements -

BY JOHN KRAFT & KIRK ALLEN

ON October 17, 2014

College of DuPage (ECWd) -

Andrea Alvarez, from the Citizens Advocacy Center located in Elmhurst, IL. spoke during the public comment session of the College of DuPage Board of Trustees meeting held on October 16, 2014.

She addressed the requirements of the Open Meetings Act in relation to public comments and how citizens do not give up their first amendment rights to freedom of speech during public comment.

She also address the imposed COD policy and how it was not consistent with the OMA or the First Amendment.

Video is below:

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3 Comments
  • screech0000
    Posted at 13:33h, 17 October

    You should probably replace this video with the corresponding segment of the COD meeting video. This was probably recorded from a hand-held device across the room and is somewhat inferior in audio quality.

    That being said, Andrea Alverez was spot on. The BoT just doesn’t get it when they are advised that they are breaking the law.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 13:58h, 17 October

      I put this version up so people could see the reactions of the board members.

  • patriette
    Posted at 14:39h, 17 October

    Wow. 3 minutes. The public makes time in their day to come to these meetings and at t probably sits through a lot of board discussion and then gets a whole 3 minutes to speak, regardless of what they have to say. That pretty much says it all. The speaker was excellent. I would only add that public bodies must adopt public comment policies in writing BEFORE the session at which they are imposed. In other words, the Board Chair cannot make it up on the spot just because he or she doesn’t like what the people are saying. They also can’t stop you from taping the meeting.

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3 Comments
  • screech0000
    Posted at 13:33h, 17 October

    You should probably replace this video with the corresponding segment of the COD meeting video. This was probably recorded from a hand-held device across the room and is somewhat inferior in audio quality.

    That being said, Andrea Alverez was spot on. The BoT just doesn’t get it when they are advised that they are breaking the law.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 13:58h, 17 October

      I put this version up so people could see the reactions of the board members.

  • patriette
    Posted at 14:39h, 17 October

    Wow. 3 minutes. The public makes time in their day to come to these meetings and at t probably sits through a lot of board discussion and then gets a whole 3 minutes to speak, regardless of what they have to say. That pretty much says it all. The speaker was excellent. I would only add that public bodies must adopt public comment policies in writing BEFORE the session at which they are imposed. In other words, the Board Chair cannot make it up on the spot just because he or she doesn’t like what the people are saying. They also can’t stop you from taping the meeting.