BREAKING NEWS: BGA Sues Chicago City Council Over Open Meetings Violations The Better Government Association filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Chicago City Council over a recent series of conference calls that violate the Open Meetings Act. The calls were arranged by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s staff and have been described as informational briefings between the administration and aldermen. Recordings of some of the meetings have been shared with reporters and circulated on social media. According to news accounts, the discussions focused on the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its handling of protests in Chicago following the death of George Floyd during an encounter with Minneapolis police. These meetings “violated nearly every meaningful OMA requirement, including the statutory obligation to provide notice of meetings, to allow public comment at meetings, and to make meetings ‘convenient’ and ‘open’ to the public,” according to the lawsuit. More information and the full text of the lawsuit are available here. | |