All FC4 records under the Open Meetings Act

To Whom It May Concern:

The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires all "Public Bodies", which are defined as “all legislative, executive, administrative or advisory bodies of [...] school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees or commissions of this State, and any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees [...].” (http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/faq_oma_government.pdf).

Per its Constitution, FC4 (FCCCC) is defined as an advisory body to the Chancellor and the Board of CCC and therefore is subject to the Open Meetings Act (example of a similar body is the Faculty Senate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which is also covered by the Open Meetings Act: http://www.senate.illinois.edu/standingrules.asp).

As such, the "meetings" (any gathering, including in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means as electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging, or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication) of the body must be open to the public.

Open meetings require the body to at least: a) perform a public recital of the matter before conducting any votes; b) give public notice for the date, time, and location of meetings; c) post an agenda at least 48 hours before the meeting; d) provide the public an opportunity to speak at the meeting; e) maintain minutes of participants, summary of the discussion, record of any votes, and make them publicly available within 7 days; f) not make any decisions in closed session, and; g) have officers trained by the Illinois Public Access Counselor. There may be both criminal and civil penalties for bodies not complying with the Open Meetings Act.

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1 to 11), I hereby request the following records:

All documentation that FC4 have performed all these activities in the period from January 1 2015 to March 5 2018. Such documentation includes all meeting agendas, public notices, minutes, records of public participation, training of FC4 officers, overview of any votes or decisions, list of all participants and whether there was a quorum for each meeting - on all platforms, including in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means as electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging, or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication (including text messages).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

James Brackett

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Illinois Freedom of Information Act. request, copied below, and originally submitted on Mar. 5, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Sincerely,

James Brackett

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"To Whom It May Concern:

The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires all "Public Bodies", which are defined as “all legislative, executive, administrative or advisory bodies of [...] school districts and all other municipal corporations, boards, bureaus, committees or commissions of this State, and any subsidiary bodies of any of the foregoing including but not limited to committees and subcommittees [...].” (http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/faq_oma_government.pdf).

Per its Constitution, FC4 (FCCCC) is defined as an advisory body to the Chancellor and the Board of CCC and therefore is subject to the Open Meetings Act (example of a similar body is the Faculty Senate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which is also covered by the Open Meetings Act: http://www.senate.illinois.edu/standingrules.asp).

As such, the "meetings" (any gathering, including in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means as electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging, or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication) of the body must be open to the public.

Open meetings require the body to at least: a) perform a public recital of the matter before conducting any votes; b) give public notice for the date, time, and location of meetings; c) post an agenda at least 48 hours before the meeting; d) provide the public an opportunity to speak at the meeting; e) maintain minutes of participants, summary of the discussion, record of any votes, and make them publicly available within 7 days; f) not make any decisions in closed session, and; g) have officers trained by the Illinois Public Access Counselor. There may be both criminal and civil penalties for bodies not complying with the Open Meetings Act.

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/1 to 11), I hereby request the following records:

All documentation that FC4 have performed all these activities in the period from January 1 2015 to March 5 2018. Such documentation includes all meeting agendas, public notices, minutes, records of public participation, training of FC4 officers, overview of any votes or decisions, list of all participants and whether there was a quorum for each meeting - on all platforms, including in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means as electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging, or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication (including text messages).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

James Brackett"

Hello Mr. Reilly,

thank you for your response.

Follow-up question: the board of trustees every month, as a matter of standard procedure and as a standing agenda item in all its meetings (see agenda/reports here: https://apps.ccc.edu/brpublic), require and receive reports from the head of the FC4. In addition, as a matter of standard procedure, the Chancellor or designee meets with the members of FC4 ahead of the board meeting. This long-standing practice shows that FC4 is an integrated part of the institution even if there are not board bylaws to its effect.

I would ask you to reconsider your decision, before I appeal.

Sincerely,

James Brackett.