Library Board approved January 20, 2004. Updated February 18, 2025.
Pursuant to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1, et seq., the Board of Library Trustees of the Oak Park Public Library adopts the following policy concerning verbatim records of closed meetings. This policy applies to the Board of Library Trustees and all committees and subcommittees of the Board of Oak Park Public Library (hereinafter referred to as the “Library”) which are subject to the provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
- A verbatim record of all closed meetings of the Board of Library Trustees and all other subsidiary bodies of the Library, including committees and subcommittees, shall be kept in the form of an audio recording. The Board of Library Trustees shall provide the recording device and only one recording device will be allowed. Individuals are not allowed to bring their own recording device to closed meetings.
The Executive Director, or their designee if unavailable, will be responsible for operating the recording device for all closed meetings of the Board of Library Trustees. The Chairs of committees or subcommittees of the Board shall be responsible for designating who is to operate the recording device for all closed meetings of the committee.
Prior to the commencement of a closed meeting, the person responsible for operating the recording device shall test it and advise the person presiding over the meeting whether the recording device is operating properly. Upon being advised that the recording device is operating properly, the person presiding at the closed meeting shall call the meeting to order and request a roll call. After the roll call, all other persons allowed to be present shall state their names and positions. The person presiding shall then proceed to conduct the closed meeting. During the course of the closed meeting only one person should speak at a time and all speakers should identify themselves prior to speaking for ease of reference in the audio recording and for the preparation of minutes following the closed meeting.
The Executive Director, or their designee, shall maintain the audio recordings in a safe at the Library. The combination to the safe shall be known only to the Executive Director, the Assistant Director, and the President and Secretary of the Board. The Executive Director, or their designee, shall properly label each recording. Access to non-released recordings shall be limited to members of the Board of Library Trustees, the Executive Director, and their designee, who may only access the recordings in the Library in the presence of another member of the Board, the Executive Director, or a records secretary for the Library. All access shall be logged indicating the date, time and purpose of the access. No copies of any non-released recording shall be made, and no recordings shall be removed from the Library except by majority vote of the Library Board at a Public Meeting or by court order.
The verbatim record of a closed meeting may be destroyed eighteen (18) months after the completion of the meeting if the public body which held the closed meeting (1) has approved the destruction of the particular recording and (2) has also approved written minutes for the particular closed meeting that contain the following elements, as required by Section 2.06 of the Open Meetings Act:
- The date, time and place of the meeting;
- The members of the public body recorded as either present or absent, and whether the members were physically present or present by means of audio or video conference; and
- A summary of discussion on all matters proposed, deliberated, or decided.
Unless the Board, committee, or subcommittee which held the closed meeting has determined that a recording no longer requires confidential treatment, or otherwise consents to disclosure, the verbatim recordings of closed meetings made pursuant to Paragraph 1 above shall not be either open for public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative proceeding other than one brought to enforce the provisions of the Open Meetings Act. In a civil action brought to enforce the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, the court, if a judge believes such an examination is necessary, must conduct an in camera examination of the verbatim recordings as it finds appropriate to determine whether there has been a violation of the Open Meetings Act. In the case of a criminal proceeding, for the court may conduct an in camera examination for the purpose of determining what portion, if any, must be made available to the parties for use as evidence in the prosecution.
