(b) A public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later. The minutes of meetings open to the public shall be available for
public inspection within 10 days after the approval of such minutes by the public
body. Beginning July 1, 2006, at the time it complies with the other requirements of this subsection, a public body that has a website that the full-time staff of the public body maintains shall post the minutes of a regular meeting of its governing body open to the public on the public body's website within 10 days after the approval of the minutes by the public body. Beginning July 1, 2006, any minutes of meetings open to the public posted on the public body's website shall remain posted on the website for at least 60 days after their initial posting.
(c) The verbatim record may be destroyed without notification to or the
approval of a records commission or the State Archivist under the Local Records
Act or the State Records Act no less than 18 months after the completion of the
meeting recorded but only after:
(1) the public body approves the destruction of a
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(d) Each public body shall periodically
meet to review minutes of all closed meetings. Meetings to review minutes shall occur every 6 months, or as soon thereafter as is practicable, taking into account the nature and meeting schedule of the public body. Committees which are ad hoc in nature shall review closed session minutes at the later of (1) 6 months from the date of the last review of closed session minutes or (2) at the next scheduled meeting of the ad hoc committee. At such
meetings a determination shall be made, and reported in an open session that
(1) the need for confidentiality still exists as to all or part of those
minutes or (2) that the minutes or portions thereof no
longer require
confidential
treatment and are available for public inspection. The failure of a public body to strictly comply with the semi-annual review of closed session written minutes, whether before or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, shall not cause the written minutes or related verbatim record to become public or available for inspection in any judicial proceeding, other than a proceeding involving an alleged violation of this Act, if the public body, within 60 days of discovering its failure to strictly comply with the technical requirements of this subsection, reviews the closed session minutes and determines and thereafter reports in open session that either (1) the need for confidentiality still exists as to all or part of the minutes or verbatim record, or (2) that the minutes or recordings or portions thereof no longer require confidential treatment and are available for public inspection.
(e) Unless the public body has made a determination that the verbatim
recording no longer requires confidential treatment or otherwise consents to
disclosure, the verbatim record of a meeting closed to the public shall not be
open for public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative
or judicial proceeding other than one brought to enforce this Act. In the case of a civil
action brought to enforce this Act, the court, if the judge believes such an examination is necessary, must conduct such in camera
examination of the verbatim record as it finds appropriate in order to
determine whether there has been a violation of this Act. In the case of a
criminal proceeding, the court may conduct an
examination in order to
determine what portions, if any, must be made available to the parties for use
as evidence in the prosecution. Any such initial inspection must be held in camera. If the court
determines that a complaint or suit brought for noncompliance under this Act
is valid it may, for the purposes of discovery, redact from the minutes of the
meeting closed to the public any information deemed to qualify under the
attorney-client privilege. The provisions of this subsection do not supersede
the privacy or confidentiality provisions of State or federal law. Access to verbatim recordings shall be provided to duly elected officials or appointed officials filling a vacancy of an elected office in a public body, and access shall be granted in the public body's main office or official storage location, in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or any elected official of the public body. No verbatim recordings shall be recorded or removed from the public body's main office or official storage location, except by vote of the public body or by court order. Nothing in this subsection (e) is intended to limit the Public Access Counselor's access to those records necessary to address a request for administrative review under Section 7.5 of this Act.
(f) Minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be available only after
the public body determines that it is no longer necessary to protect the public
interest or the privacy of an individual by keeping them confidential, except that duly elected officials or appointed officials filling a vacancy of an elected office in a public body shall be provided access to minutes of meetings closed to the public. Access to minutes shall be granted in the public body's main office or official storage location, in the presence of a records secretary, an administrative official of the public body, or any elected official of the public body. No minutes of meetings closed to the public shall be removed from the public body's main office or official storage location, except by vote of the public body or by court order. Nothing in this subsection (f) is intended to limit the Public Access Counselor's access to those records necessary to address a request for administrative review under Section 7.5 of this Act.
(g) Any person shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials under the rules established and recorded by the public body.
(h) When a public body is dissolved, disbanded, eliminated, or consolidated by executive action, legislative action, or referendum, and its functions and responsibilities are assumed by a unit of local government, the unit of local government which assumes the functions of the prior public body shall review the closed session minutes of that public body pursuant to subsection (d).
(Source: P.A. 102-653, eff. 1-1-22 .)
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