City of Aurora Restricts Public at Committee of the Whole Meeting and Violates Open Meetings Act

The Weisner administration continues to make the City of Aurora look ridiculous to the many media covering the Planned Parenthood controversy and potentially violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act in the process.

We learned that for Tuesday's Commitee of the Whole meeting held on the 5th Floor of City Hall, entrance to the building was again closed and public access limited under the guise of "fire code regulations."

Given the large number of media, members of the public and city staff that would be in attendance at such a meeting, one would think that if the Weisner administration could think ahead to have police officers (sources say it was Sgt. Groom, who apparently has been assigned to regular door duty these days) guarding city hall's entrance, they could have thought ahead to move the meeting to the larger city council chambers.

Perhaps if Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is paying attention, she may want to drag Mr. Weisner and so-called corporation counsel Alayne Weingartz into court and explain the "public" part of public meetings and the consequences of violating the law.

One spectator from inside the meeting reported there were many empty chairs and another spectator who could not enter city hall reported that media were allowed to enter despite the fire code issue.

That last part confuses and concerns us. If safety (fire) was really an issue, shouldn't that include media? Except for the staff of the local fishwrap, the rest of the media are doing a great job covering this controversy and we think should be protected from risks just as much as anyone else.

Considering it's likely the next city council meeting will be standing-room only again with media present, there is no excuse not to plan ahead, move the meeting to a larger venue and cease violating the law.

Maybe Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner will even join the meeting this time.