Agency Won't Look Into Elmhurst Park Closed Meeting

ELMHURST, IL – The state's attorney general is not taking any action in response to Patch's request for a review of an Elmhurst Park District closed meeting earlier this year.

Last month, Patch submitted the request after it obtained a memo from park board member Carolyn Ubriaco about the April closed session.

She said she wanted the park board's lawyer, Andrew Paine, to determine the "appropriateness" of closing the doors under the Open Meetings Act. Under the law, only limited matters can be discussed in closed sessions.

In an email last month to Patch, the park district's executive director, Jim Rogers, said Paine found no improper closed session discussion took place. The meeting, which was about specific personnel, lasted 15 minutes.

In a letter last week, Ben Silver, a supervising attorney with the attorney general's office, said Patch's request did not include any factual details to contradict the district's assertion.

He said Ubriaco's memo also did not include any such allegations.

Because of the lack of specifics, the state agency would take no action, he said.

In response to Patch's text message, Ubriaco, who attended the closed meeting, said she was considering how best to follow up. She said she would keep Patch in the loop.

The park board has been divided in recent months over where to build a bandshell in Wilder Park.