Elmhurst Closed Meeting Over Permit Improper: Watchdog

Elmhurst IL

18 May, 2021

10:41 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — A watchdog over Elmhurst government has filed a complaint related to the City Council's decision to hold a closed meeting last November. The watchdog, Edgar Pal, filed the complaint after finding out about the meeting in a Patch story in April. The meeting was over whether to extend the permit for a controversial nursing home expansion on Elmhurst's north side. According to the meeting agenda, the city held the closed session for "pending" or "probable" litigation, exceptions allowed under the state's open meetings law. Patch obtained emails between city officials indicating the closed session was about Elmhurst Extended Care Center's proposed project at 200 E. Lake St. In an April letter to the attorney general, Pal contended the closed session exceeded the scope of permissible topics under the law. No litigation was pending between the city and the nursing home. As for a closed session on probable litigation, Pal noted the attorney general has determined "reasonable grounds" must exist to believe that a lawsuit is more likely that not. "In this matter, it is not clear that a lawsuit was even threatened," Pal wrote. "Prior to November 2020, the City Council had already extended the conditional use permit numerous times, and it was not clear that Elmhurst Extended Care Center was threatening litigation to retain that permit." If the City Council was considering a lawsuit against the nursing home, Pal said, the attorney general's guidance is that such discussions must be about legal "strategies, posture, theories and consequences of the litigation itself." But he said the council could not discuss the permit itself behind closed doors if it were considering litigation. Last week, the attorney general's office informed the city about the complaint and determined that further investigation was warranted. Under the Open Meetings Act, a public body must list its finding of "probable" litigation in its closed session minutes if it chooses to use that exception under the law. Such minutes are unavailable to the public. In April, Patch reported about City Manager Jim Grabowski's and then-Alderman Michael Bram's February emails about the nursing home expansion. Bram wanted to know the status of the project, noting the permit expired in November. In his reply, Grabowski said Mayor Steve Morley, who left office earlier this month, asked aldermen in the Nov. 23 closed session for their thoughts on extending the nursing home's permit, which had just expired. A majority agreed with the city attorney that the nursing home had met the "substantially under way" standard because of the amount of money spent on building drawings, purchase of a building permit and the erection of a construction fence, among other things, Grabowski said. "There was no further action needed from the city," Grabowski told Bram. Ground was never broken. The city's thinking on the permit later changed. Last month, a key city committee recommended against extending the nursing home's request for two years. The City Council agreed. Under the law, the city is required to respond to the attorney general's inquiry by early next week. City officials did not respond to a Patch inquiry last month about the closed meeting.