DARIEN, IL – Unlike many of its counterparts, the Darien City Council rarely closes its doors.
In the last year, the council met for 29 hours in regular and special meetings. Just 21 minutes of that time was spent in a closed session. That means aldermen spent about 1 percent of their time behind closed doors.
The council held its only closed session over the last year in May to discuss matters involving specific personnel.
Darien is a far cry from other government bodies.
In the last year, the Elmhurst school board met for 42 hours. At least 43 percent of the time was spent in closed sessions. The percentage is likely much higher because the board's minutes did not document the length of six of its closed sessions.
The boards for Hinsdale High School District 86 and Lyons Township High School each spent nearly 30 percent of their meeting time behind closed doors.
The Elmhurst City Council and the La Grange Village Board were at 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Under the state's Open Meetings Act, public bodies are only allowed to meet in closed session for limited purposes. Among them are discussions about specific personnel, union negotiations, the sale of real estate, private student matters and litigation.
Under the law, a majority of a public body's members cannot meet to discuss public business outside an advertised meeting.
The attorney general handles complaints about violations of the open meetings law.
In 2023, the Hinsdale High School District 86 board decided behind closed doors to suspend the superintendent. Patch filed a complaint, contending the action should have been taken publicly. A year later, the attorney general sided with Patch.
In 2022 and 2023, the Lyons Township High School board met repeatedly in closed session about selling its land in Willow Springs to an industrial developer. When that became apparent, residents complained. The attorney general found the board broke state law. In response, the board released the closed session recordings.
In 2019, the Elmhurst school board violated state law when it held a closed session to discuss its contentious negotiations with the city of Elmhurst for an agreement over stormwater projects and tax increment financing districts.
A year earlier, the board talked about an administrative reorganization behind closed doors. That, too, broke state law.
The attorney general's findings in both cases were in response to complaints from a watchdog, Edgar Pal.
Pal also got a favorable ruling from the attorney general when he complained that the Elmhurst City Council broke state law when it discussed a nursing home's special use permit in closed session.