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Board discusses hiring subcommittee for finance director and Open Meetings Act constraints
Summary
County board members agreed to form a hiring subcommittee for the finance director search but discussed Open Meetings Act requirements that affect membership, posting and the need to potentially move into executive session during interviews.
Members of the finance committee discussed forming a hiring subcommittee to interview candidates for the county’s finance director position and reviewed Open Meetings Act constraints that shape how interviews are scheduled and conducted.
Tina Bush, finance committee chair, said the intended subcommittee would include representatives from finance, salary and labor and the county chair; members discussed who should sit on the subcommittee and how to avoid inadvertently creating a quorum of the finance committee that would trigger open-meeting posting requirements. County counsel and staff advised that a hiring subcommittee made up of county board members is subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act and must be posted and conducted accordingly.
Why it matters: hiring a finance director is a high-profile appointment with budgetary and administrative implications. State open-meetings law prescribes public notice and allows public attendance unless an executive session is lawfully called for candidate evaluation.
Key points and procedures discussed: - Composition: committee members discussed using two finance-committee members plus a salary-and-labor representative and the county chair or designee; they discussed designating a consistent member who can attend regularly. - Posting and access: staff noted the subcommittee is subject to the Open Meetings Act and must be posted at least 48 hours in advance; members can attend public interviews but may need to go into executive session to meet in private for candidate deliberations. - Executive session: legal counsel noted deliberation about specific candidates can occur in executive session under the Open Meetings Act’s employee-evaluation provisions; members discussed opening the meeting publicly, immediately moving into executive session for interviews or deliberations, then returning to the public meeting.
Next steps: staff (Melissa) will coordinate schedules for candidates and post meetings following Open Meetings Act requirements. The committee agreed to proceed with scheduling interviews with a small, posted subcommittee and to plan executive-session use where appropriate for candidate evaluation.
Ending: the chair asked staff to set interview dates and ensure compliance with open-meetings posting and executive-session rules.
