Saline County Unlawfully Prohibited Recording Of Public Meeting –

Harrisburg, Ill. (ECWd) –

A Saline County board member published that he was informed tonight prior to the meeting that his recording a county board meeting was prohibited because the meeting is being held in a courtroom (see letter shown here).

Prohibiting the recording of an open public meeting is a crime and cannot be tolerated.

If the Courts will not permit recording, the County Board must cancel the meetings and move them to a place where they can be recorded by anyone who wishes to record them.

All other counties and courts that we have come across realize a county board meeting is not a “court” and they also realize they cannot prohibit recording of a county board meeting held inside a courthouse or courtroom.

According to the Open Meetings Act, Section 2.05:

Sec. 2.05. Recording meetings. Subject to the provisions of Section 8-701 of the Code of Civil Procedure, any person may record the proceedings at meetings required to be open by this Act by tape, film or other means. The authority holding the meeting shall prescribe reasonable rules to govern the right to make such recordings.

Violations of the Act, including prohibiting the recording of an open public meeting, are Class C Misdemeanors – criminal.

See the Open Meetings Act, Section 4:

We suggest the State’s Attorney talk with the county board chairman and get this figured out.