PAC declines to decide Aurora Downtown's public body status due to pending litigation

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Dear Ms. Salamone :

This letter is issued pursuant to section 3.5(e) of the Open Meetings Act (OMA) 5 ILCS 120/ 3.5(e) ( West 2022)) and section 9.5(f) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/ 9.5(f) (West 2022), as amended by Public Act 103 -069, effective January 1, 2024 ). For the reasons explained below, the Public Access Bureau will take no further action with respect to the above -referenced Request for Review.

On July 8, 2024 , you submitted this Request for Review to the Public Access Bureau alleging that Aurora Downtown is out of compliance with FOIA and OMA . You noted that you are a former member of Aurora Downtown's Board of Directors, for which you took OMA training and responded to FOIA requests directed to the organization. You further noted that because of your activity on behalf of Aurora Downtown, you are a party to a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that Aurora Downtown is a public body subject to FOIA.1 In River Breeze, LLC v. Granholm , 2022 IL App ( 2d) 210704 , ¶¶ 40-41, the Illinois Appellate Court vacated the lower court's dismissal of a complaint that AuroraDowntown must abide by FOIA as Both FOIA2 and OMA3 provide that when the requester files suit with respect to the same alleged violation that is the subject of a pending Request for Review, the Public Access Counselor shall take no further action on the matter. Although you did not file the lawsuit in question , your Request for Review calls upon the Public Access Bureau to perform precisely the same factual analysis that the courts are currently performing in River Breeze, LLC v. Granholm . As an exercise of discretion in deference to the court proceeding, the Public Access Bureau will take no further action in this matter.4 Accordingly, this letter serves to close this file. If you have questions, please contact me at joshua. jones@ilag. gov.

Very truly yours, JOSHUA M. JONES Deputy Bureau Chief Public Access Bureau 82071 f and o dsc mun cc: Via electronic mail Mr. Brian Failing Board Chair Aurora Downtown 43 West Galena Boulevard Aurora, Illinois 60506 [email protected]