Orland Mayor Disputes AG's Ruling, Defends Call To 'Clear The Room'

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau on Friday responded to the Illinois Attorney General's determination that he and the Village Board violated the Open Meetings Act earlier this year

Pekau's decision to call a recess and ask the police chief to "clear the room" after the February meeting grew heated violated the Open Meetings Act, the Illinois Attorney General's office determined.

During the Feb. 5 Village Board meeting, more than a half-dozen Arab American residents spoke, imploring Pekau and the Orland Park Board of Trustees to adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. After several people addressed the Board, the meeting grew raucous, with chants of "ceasefire now!"

Tensions in the room rose, with Pekau ultimately and abruptly calling for a recess and asking the police chief to remove the audience from the room. Pekau reconvened the meeting a half-hour later, video shows, then speaking to a mostly empty room.

By calling the recess and removing the entire audience from the room, the board effectively closed the meeting to the public, the AG's office said. Raoul's office determined that in its abrupt call for a recess, the Mayor and Board prevented the public from attending the remainder of the meeting.

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"Although a public body is not required to tolerate interruptions and does not violate OMA by removing disorderly attendees who meaningfully disrupt the proceedings, the Board here abruptly entered a recess after the mayor warned the audience that "[w]e will remove the room so we can continue to have our meeting," the ruling reads.

After 30 minutes, Pekau then reconvened the meeting.

"These statements and actions indicate that the meeting was recessed for the purpose of removing all attendees, so the meeting could resume without members of the public present, rather than removing only the attendees who had disrupted the meeting.

"Members of the public could not have reasonably inferred that they would have been permitted to access the meeting room after the recess."

By ordering the room to be emptied, "the Board effectively closed the meeting to the public even though most of the attendees had not disrupted the proceeding," the Attorney General's office ruled.

In his response shared late Friday, Pekau called the Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC)'s conclusion that the board had cleared the room for the purpose of holding the rest of the meeting without an audience "unsupported and incorrect."

"The meeting was recessed only for the purposes of restoring order and ensuring a safe end to the meeting," a statement issued by Pekau reads. "Anyone who wanted to return and was willing to maintain decorum would have been allowed to reenter the Board room and observe the end of the Board comment period."

He continued:

The PAC is also mistaken in assuming it can determine the attendees' thoughts and concluding that they couldn't have reasonably inferred they would be allowed back into the meeting room after the recess. On the contrary, the Board expected that a call for a "recess" would be commonly understood as a temporary suspension of proceedings. It was reasonable to assume that anyone interested in remaining after the order was restored would understand that the meeting would reconvene. The fact that members of the public chose not to return to the meeting is beyond the Board's control.

Pekau said the initial complaint to Raoul's office, filed by resident Michael Henry, misrepresented the tone of the meeting and its commenters. Henry claimed the disruptions were limited to "just a few" audience members, but Pekau said that was inaccurate.

"The widespread heckling was a significant issue, and the PAC admits it 'cannot clearly identify the source of the disturbance,'" Pekau wrote. "Additionally, the PAC seems to overlook the highly charged nature of the discussion topic—the violent Hamas-Israel War—which necessitated swift and decisive action to ensure the safety of all involved."

Pekau contends that people did not reenter after the recess because "they did not want to listen to opinions or comments from a Board that did not meet their demands."

Pekau and the board were within their purview, he contends, in calling a recess to bring order to the meeting.

"The PAC clearly agrees that the Mayor has the authority to take measures to preserve decorum and ensure a meeting is conducted in an orderly and efficient manner, including taking a recess when disruptions occur," Pekau wrote. "This is precisely what the Village Board did on February 5th. The Board fully complied with the Open Meetings Act and will not alter any safety procedures in place to ensure the Village can effectively conduct its business. Public meetings are important elements of our country’s system of representative democracy.

"What occurred at the meeting was an attempt to silence a different point of view, not through a superior argument, not through considered reason, but just through mindless noise. Reasonless noise to silence opponents stems from contempt, from the ultimate disregard for their ability to improve, or know better, or eventually see reason."