Judge Bans County Board From Courthouse –

Saline Co., Ill (ECWd) –

Today, in an unexpected twist in Saline County, Presiding Judge Jayson M. Clark has issued a 2-page letter to the Saline County Board immediately banning them from holding meetings in the courthouse.

This comes six days after we published an article on the county board’s violations of the Open Meetings Act by prohibiting people from recording the proceedings of the county board open meetings, citing an Administrative Order signed by the Chief Judge in 2024.

Judge Clark stated in the letter, among other things, that:

• To facilitate County Board compliance with the Open Meetings Act while also ensuring compliance with Administrative Order No. 2024-6-27, I coordinated with you in your capacity as County Board Chairman as well as the County Clerk and the Circuit Clerk to make the courtroom audio/video recording and broadcasting system available for use by the County Board. My hope was that use of our courtroom system, with its high-quality audio and video broadcast and recording capabilities, would enhance public access to such a degree that use of personal recording devices in violation of Administrative Order No. 2024-6-27 would not be an issue. 
• I understand that some members of the Saline County Board have continued using their own personal devices to record and/or broadcast meetings inside the courtroom in violation of Administrative Order No. 2024-6-27. Under these circumstances, it is clear that the Saline County Board cannot comply with both Administrative Order No. 2024-6-27 and the Open Meetings Act. As a result, the Board will need to find a different location to hold its public meetings.
• The County Board has demonstrated that it cannot comply with both the Open Meetings Act and Administrative Order No. 2024-6-27.

The Open Meetings Act grants the “RIGHT to record” to any person attending any open public meeting in the state of Illinois, no matter where that meeting is located.

For a Judge to argue that the county board could not comply with the OMA and with the Administrative Order is ridiculous – there is simply no possible way for the county board to comply with both. The AO prohibits recording and the OMA demand public bodies hold their meetings in location where attendees can exercise their statutory right to record.

No amount of government recording devices or cameras can replace the individual right to record. There are many situations where a public body “accidentally” loses controversial portions of meetings and if private record devices were prohibited, those portions would be lost forever.

We are not aware of any other courthouse in this state that prohibits recording an open public meeting because it happens to be inside the courthouse or a courtroom (although we suspect people will let us know of more counties after this publication).

In the meantime, the Saline County Board has moved its next meeting to a local community building.