At tonight’s Peoria Park Board meeting, the settlement terms of the Alms/Partridge lawsuit were approved unanimously. Here’s the text of the joint press release:
JOINT PRESS RELEASE OF PARTIES
Karrie E. Alms, Sara A. Partridge, and the Pleasure Driveway and Park District of Peoria and its Trustees are announcing today the settlement of the lawsuit pending between them.
Mrs. Alms and Ms. Partridge filed suit against the Park District and its Trustees in May, 2006, alleging that the Park District violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act in holding closed meetings on March 8 and 22, 2006, to discuss leasing to District 150 a portion of Glen Oak Park which, along with adjoining private property along Prospect Road, would serve as a site for a new school to replace the existing Glen Oak School.
That lawsuit was subsequently amended to add a count asserting that there was a violation of the Open Meetings Act when an audiotape of the March 8 closed session was mistakenly deleted by a Park District employee.
Trial was scheduled in the case for May 17-18, 2007.
During the past few weeks, the parties, with the assistance of Chief Judge Richard Grawey, have met on several occasions to discuss a potential settlement of the case. Both sides have concluded that settlement terms exist which are acceptable to each and which would end the further expenditure of public and personal funds. Additionally, with the Park District’s decision not to move forward with the School District’s request for property, a significant focus of the suit is no longer present.
The terms of settlement offer more than an end to spending public dollars. They provide for improved policies and training at the Park District. They further provide for the Park District to make a partial payment of the attorney’s fees incurred by Mrs. Alms and Ms. Partridge in this suit. The Park District had conceded that the mistaken deletion of the March 8 tape was not proper under the Act and the Open Meetings Act allows for a recovery of attorneys fees by private parties in such circumstances.
The terms of the settlement are the following:
- All official Peoria Park District Board of Trustee meetings pertaining to the possible location of public school facilities partially or totally on Peoria Park District property shall be held in open session and otherwise in compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
- The Park District will contact the Illinois Attorney General’s office to schedule training in Open Meetings Act compliance; the training will be conducted at times and places as soon as is convenient and in open session.
- The Park District will amend its official policy manual to reflect appropriate Open Meetings Act compliance procedures.
- The terms of this settlement agreement do not constitute an admission by the Defendant Peoria Park District or its Trustees that the closed meetings of the Board of Trustees on March 8 and March 22, 2006, were in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. The terms of settlement do not constitute a concession by the Plaintiffs that the closed meetings were held in compliance of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
- The District shall pay to Plaintiffs $27,500, representing partial payment of their attorney fees and expenses.
Both sides are satisfied with the outcome and are pleased the suit is concluded.
File this one under, “You Can’t Fight City Hall.” It’s hard to wage a lawsuit against a public body that has an endless supply of public funds to expend and lots of legal tricks up their sleeve. The Park Board came out smelling like a rose in this settlement and it only cost them $27,500.
The question I have is, why did Alms and Partridge have to do what the state’s attorney should have been doing in the first place? The taxpayers pay the state’s attorney to prosecute cases like this; if he won’t prosecute, then who’s looking out for the taxpayers?
C.J.: doesn’t the Attorney General’s office usually get involved in this type of dispute? If my recollection is correct, a complaint was filed against District #150 (maybe 4 years or so ago) for a violation of the OMA with the Attorney General’s Office and the Attorney General found that the District had violated the OMA and imposed some sort of sanctions.
Congratulations to Karrie and Sara. We should be proud of them for their insistence that in our democracy, governmental bodies should conduct their business in full view of its citizens.
Is there a fund established for public contributions to help them defray attorney fees incurred beyond the $27,500 the PPD has agreed to reimburse?
Who is looking out for the taxpayers? Good question. Certanly not our state’s attorney. I guess if no one cares what happens, no one enforces the laws or rules every thing will be the same, back room deals. Illinois goverment at it’s best.
I think the Park District should have to hold a bake sale and run a lemonade stand to raise the $27,500 instead of it coming out of taxpayer money.
It didn’t “only cost $27,500”. Add in the PPD’s attorney fees and the cost s of the Park District District employees who had to come up with all kinds of documents and spent all kinds of time on this and the total is way higher. BTW, $27,500 for fees and expenses for a possible violation of the open meetings act? Sounds kinds high?
High compared to what? How much do you think an attorney, filing fees, and other expenses cost for a lawsuit that has been going on for about a full year? The median hourly rate for lawyers is $170/hour in Peoria. A good lawyer with lots of experience no doubt gets more than that. A lot of work went into this case. The attorney’s fees don’t surprise me.
PrairieCelt: Yes, donations would be welcome for Karrie & Sara. You can send them to:
RALLY Peoria
P.O. Box 44
Peoria, IL 61650-0044
I don’t know what else to say, except thanks to Karrie and Sara. Thanks for the actions and the example.
I love the ‘Cloak & Dagger!’ I am willing to bet that this kind of thing goes on in most of the boards, commissions, etc. in Peoria.
The answer CJ, is only you and a few others are looking out for the taxpayers!
Note, the Park Board is also poised to change the name of the Zoo, as I have feared for some time. They have all but destroyed Glen Oak Park, now they want to take the name off the Zoo. Well, they can call it whatever they bloody well please, but it will still always be the Glen Oak Zoo to me.
The State’s Attorney is a Democrat, BTW, for those readers still under the delusion that all of our problems are the fault of Republicans.
Also, CJ, should the check be made out to “Rally Peoria”??
Finally, Chef Kevin’s idea of a fundraiser isn’t a bad idea for Karrie and Sara. How about it folks?
Sweet Treats for Open Meetings? Just tell me where and when to bring the brownies. Peoria can be the first city in the country to establish a legal fund to defend its citizen’s against their own government.
Sorry that more of you do not read my blogs. I wrote a series on the PPD fiasco. I know Rally Peoria has raised some monies to help cover costs but not nearly enough. I raised $1700.00.
Chip in. She and Sara did a great service to the community. I asked Kevin why no action taken. Call him and ask for his explanation.
If you aren’t reading my blogs you are missing out on a lot of info I have researched on Peoria Public Libraries and have concluded that they mainly want to join the “Everybody else is getting the taxpayers money, why not us?”