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Village attorney: Homer Glen operates under president—trustee form; trustees get a FOIA/OMA and Robert's Rules refresher
Summary
At a workshop, village attorney Mike Carroll told trustees that because Homer Glen did not adopt a referendum-based managerial form the village operates under the president—trustee (article 3.1) form. Carroll reviewed mayor/manager appointment powers, Open Meetings/FOIA rules and Robert's Rules of Order, and urged clearer board-staff procedures and annual manager evaluations.
The village attorney gave trustees a detailed workshop on forms of municipal government, Open Meetings Act/FOIA rules, Robert's Rules of Order and managing board—staff relations.
Mike Carroll told the board that Homer Glen defaulted to the president—trustee form (article 3.1) because it had not adopted a referendum to change to the statutory managerial form. "If you didn't adopt a referendum, then you fall under article 3.1," Carroll said, citing 65 ILCS sections and secretary-of-state records. He explained the difference between a manager appointed by ordinance (created by the village and subject to the mayor's nomination with advice-and-consent by the board) and a statutory article 5 manager (appointed by the board after referendum), and warned that ordinances cannot constitutionally change the form of government.
Carroll reviewed practical governance rules: the mayor has the right to "give the corporate authorities information concerning the affairs of the municipality" (65 ILCS 5/3.1-35-5) but the chair must generally avoid extended debate and should follow recognized decorum and Robert's Rules. He highlighted Open Meetings Act pitfalls — a "meeting" includes contemporaneous interactive communications of a majority of a quorum, so "reply all" emails or group texts that discuss public business can violate the law. Carroll cautioned that text messages and reply-all emails during meetings are discoverable in FOIA requests and could trigger OMA complaints.
He also recommended tools to improve board-staff relations: a code of conduct reviewed after each election, onboarding materials, a retreat or leadership summit, annual manager evaluations and a clear chain of communication so trustees do not "go around" the manager to staff. "Don't criticize the manager or staff in public," he advised; "deal with your problems behind closed doors" in an appropriate forum.
Trustees asked for sources and statutory citations; Carroll provided chapter/section references and offered to share materials. The board requested that staff consolidate the village codebook and onboard materials so trustees can easily reference governing ordinances and procedures.
What happens next: trustees asked staff to compile the cited statutes and ordinance references and to add or confirm codebook/onboarding materials for distribution; the mayor and manager were asked to consider formalizing a code of conduct review after the next election.
