Maywood Park District Board filled vacancy without quorum; PAC takes no further action

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Dear

he Public Acee s Bureau has received your Reque t for Review alleging that the Maywood Park Di trict Board of Commi sioner (Board) may have violated the Open Meeting Act (OMA) on December 12, 2023. For the reasons set forth below, the Public Access Bureau concludes that no further action is warranted in this matter. 1 Your Request for Review allege that after three of the five members of the Board resigned, the two remaining members convened a meeting on December 12 2023 where they voted to appoint a third member Mr. Darryl Bass. You contend: " ince there were only two member of the five-per on board voting to fill the vacancy, they did not constitute a quorum and accordingly their action appointing Mr. Bass to the board was in violation of Section 1.02 of the Open Meetings Act and therefore void. "2 Section l.02 of OMA (5 ILCS 120/1.02 (We t 2022)) defines a "meeting" ubject to the requirements of the Act as follows:

messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business or, for a 5- member public body, a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purpose of discussing public business.

Accordingly, for a 5- member public body, 3 members of the body constitute a quorum and the affirmative vote of 3 members is necessary to adopt any motion, resolution, or ordinance, unless a greater number is otherwise required.

The plain language ofsection 1. 02 indicates that three affirmative votes are necessary for a five -member public body to take action. In this instance, however, you allege that at the time of the vote in question, the five -member Board was comprised of two members due to resignations. Section 4- 1 of the Park District Code ( 70 ILCS 1205/ 4- 1 ( West 2022))

provides that "[ t]he members of [a park district's] governing board shall constitute the corporate authority for such district and a majority of such members shall constitute a quorum for said board at any meeting thereof." Section 2- 25 of the Park District Code ( 70 ILCS 1205/ 2- 25 ( West 2022)), which specifically govems the filling of park district board vacancies, provides that v] acancies shall be filled by appointment by a majority of the remaining members of the board." The Illinois Supreme Court has advised that "[ w]hen statutes covering the same subject conflict, more recently enacted statutes control over earlier ones, and more specific statutes control over general statutes." In re Craig H., 2022 IL 126256, ¶ 26.

Section 2-25 of the Park District Code was both enacted more recently and amended more recently than section 1. 02 of OMA, and section 2-25 of the Park District Code more specifically concerns making park district board appointments. Accordingly, the procedure for filling a vacancy outlined in section 2- 25 of the Park District Code prevails over the general requirement for a five -member public body to take action under section 1. 02 of OMA. Moreover, it is not evident how the Board could have continued to function as a deliberative body without both of the current members convening a meeting and voting to appoint one or more new members. It would be unreasonable to construe the requirements of OMA as precluding a public body from filling a vacancy in accordance with section 2- 25 of the Park District Code, when its failure to fill a vacancy would render it unable to conduct public business and carry out its basic functions for a lengthy period of time. See Shively v. Belleville Township High School District No. 201, 329 Ill. App. 3d 1156, 1166 ( 2002) (" A statute should not be construed to produce an absurd, unjust, or unreasonable result."). Therefore, your Request for Review does not indicate that the Board potentially violated OMA on December 12, 2023, and this office has determined that no further action is warranted as to this matter.

Very truly yours, JOSHUA M. JONES Deputy Bureau Chief Public Access Bureau 80103 o no fi war pkd cc: Via electronic mail The Honorable Dawn Williams President, Board of Commissioners Maywood Park District 809 West Madison Maywood, Illinois 60153 D.Williams® maywoodparkdistrict. org