Elmhurst Mayor Opposes Recording Committee Meetings

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin is opposed to the recording of the City Council's committee meetings, where aldermen have long said their real work takes place.

Meanwhile, Elmhurst school board President Athena Arvanitis said last week that the school district plans to bring back its pandemic practice of recording committee meetings.

Both entities livestream their main meetings – the council and the school board.

In June 2023, Elmhurst aldermen Michael Bram, Rex Irby and Karen Sienko asked the council to consider either video or audio recording committee meetings.

More than a year and a half later, the council has not acted on the request.

At last week's League of Women Voters candidates forum, the mayoral candidates were asked about recording committee meetings.

Mayor School Levin acknowledged the aldermen's request. He said he may change his mind as a result of the proposal, but he said he was against recording meetings.

"People need to speak freely," Levin said. "It's so easy to take a piece of a clip that's recorded and use it against the person who says it."

He also said it could be intimidating for residents who want to speak at committee meetings. They, too, could become the victim of out-of-context clips posted online, he said.

Finally, Levin said, the cost of installing camera equipment in the four committee meeting rooms would come at a cost. (The aldermen, though, included audio in their request.)

Mark Mulliner, Levin's opponent in the April 1 election, favored recording meetings.

"I don't believe we should hide anything," the former longtime alderman said.

However, Mulliner said the public should understand that committee meetings often involve brainstorming.

"Sometimes ideas are thrown out at meetings, and they may not be an idea that people are really thinking about, but they want some ideas and some feedback," he said.

Asked at the forum about recording committee meetings, board President Arvanitis said the schools would resume that practice this month.

In summer 2022, the board ended the recording of quarterly meetings of its finance and policy committees. That move, the school district said at the time, would reduce the number of staff needed at those sessions.

The League of Women Voters criticized the decision, saying it was the board's effort to "insulate itself from the community it serves." Since then, the league has video-recorded committee meetings and posted them on social media.

The board's decision came at a time when the finance committee was reviewing $168 million in building projects, which voters approved in a 2018 referendum.