https://illinoisfoia.org/exemptions/5-ilcs-120-2-c-5/ 2026-05-13T00:00:00Z https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2026-pac-92498/ 2026-05-13T00:00:00Z

The requester alleged that a city council improperly discussed the future of its existing City Hall building in closed sessions that were justified as covering the potential purchase of other real property. The Public Access Counselor held that the council's discussions of the current building's condition and disposition were a separate topic not authorized by the real-property-acquisition exception under which the meetings were closed. The council was directed to disclose the portions of the cl

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2022-pac-72503/ 2022-09-30T00:00:00Z

The requester, a resident, alleged that a school board secretly deliberated for months, across sixteen separate closed sessions, about building a new school funded by federal pandemic relief funds and a special legislative waiver, disclosing the plan publicly only after the fact. The Public Access Counselor held that the closed-session exception for purchasing or leasing real property covered only the narrow question of which parcel to acquire, not the board's broader deliberations about whether

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-69094/ 2022-06-03T00:00:00Z

A citizen alleged that a park district board discussed the sale of one park district property during a closed session that had been authorized only to discuss the purchase of a different property. The PAC determined that discussing whether to sell a separate property to help fund an unrelated purchase went beyond the closed-session exception for purchasing or leasing property, and did not fall within the narrower exception for setting a sale price either. The PAC concluded the board violated the

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-58651/ 2021-10-25T00:00:00Z

A citizen complained that a school board held a private meeting to discuss an agreement with the city, which the board claimed was allowed because of potential legal action. The Illinois Attorney General's Public Access Bureau concluded that the board improperly discussed certain matters in closed session during its April 23, 2019, meeting and failed to make a finding that litigation was probable or imminent. The source document does not state that the board was asked to release the recordings a

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-59963/ 2020-06-08T00:00:00Z

A reporter questioned whether a school board broke the law by discussing property purchases in private meetings. The Attorney General's office reviewed the secret recordings of those meetings and concluded the board acted within its legal rights. This means the board did not violate the Open Meetings Act in this instance.