Recording meetings should not change anything

DE Staff Reporter
Daily Egyptian

The word for today is accountability.

If closed meetings take place for approved reasons and the proper procedure is followed, then video or audio recordings should not change anything.

Recording all closed-door government meetings may be a law if Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs a bill passed by the Illinois Legislature.

Blagojevich should sign the bill.

If this is signed it will require all bodies in attendance of a closed meeting to be accountable for what takes place behind the doors.

Of course, it is required that minutes be taken at all meetings, but that does not stop someone from violating the rules and discussing issues that should otherwise be discussed at an open meeting.

This is not to say that anyone in Carbondale has committed the crime, but minutes of a meeting can be written at the discretion of the board. What information it wants to conveniently exclude can be left out of the report.

Boards that have closed meetings should see this as a positive. First, the law is only requiring recordings of meetings to be held for 18 months, so a library of meetings will not have to be created. Cost for recording should not be a concern because tapes could be reused after the time period has passed.

The only thing that will affect money matters is if the board is holding numerous closed meetings - which should not be the case.

The most important outcome of taping meetings is for evidence. In the event that a lawsuit is brought against the board for improper closed meeting activity, it will be able to provide visual or audio evidence to avoid hearsay.

It is important to know that recording a meeting does not mean the tape has to be made public, as is the case for minutes. The recordings will be used only in the event of a complaint of a discrepancy or the violation of closed meetings rules.

If board members are discussing only the topics for which the closed meeting was called, then there should not be any worry about having the devices in the room to capture talks.

The word for today, tomorrow, or whenever a closed meeting takes place is accountability.

Being accountable for the words spoken at a closed meeting will ultimately benefit everyone involved and avoid any unnecessary litigation.

If Blagojevich signs the bill it will only enhance the already-in-effect Open Meetings Act by making sure persons on the board don't violate policies.

If closed meetings are recorded and the tapes are used when accusations of misconduct arise, those involved will be able to refer to the recordings to prove proper procedures occurred in accordance with the law.

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