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Homer Glen leaders say village page comments were disabled after board members received threats; attorneys outline Open Meetings Act steps
Summary
Trustees said the village disabled comments on the official Facebook page after some board members received threatening messages. Trustees discussed options for sharing threats internally, involving police, and using executive session where appropriate under the Open Meetings Act.
Homer Glen — Trustees at the Jan. 9 Village of Homer Glen meeting said the village-disabled comments on its official Facebook page after some trustees and staff received threatening messages and described procedures for sharing the threats internally and involving law enforcement.
Mayor Nitzy Treiki said the village stopped allowing comments on its Facebook posts after “some board members up here that have had some serious threats” and that village officials had also received threatening emails. She said the decision was made to protect trustees and staff from direct threats and to reduce the burden of parsing unrelated comments on official posts.
Trustee Fialco said the board should be informed when a trustee receives a threatening communication and asked that such incidents be shared with the full board. The village attorney, Pasquinelli, explained limits under the Illinois Open Meetings Act: trustees may not deliberate as a quorum outside of an open meeting, but an individual trustee may forward a threatening communication to a fellow trustee without copying the full board. The attorney added that matters involving pending or imminent litigation or law-enforcement referrals can, in some cases, be discussed in executive session.
Trustees and the attorney discussed practical next steps: report threatening messages to police; individual trustees may share threats one-on-one with other trustees; and, where appropriate, the board may take the matter up in executive session to preserve confidentiality and attorney-client privilege. Several trustees asked that the village attorney and staff provide copies of threatening messages to trustees consistent with Open Meetings Act procedures so the board can be informed while remaining compliant with law.
At the end of the public meeting trustees voted to go into executive session to discuss personnel, pending litigation, review executive-session minutes and utilities. The board then recessed to executive session.
