By Irene Romulo, Ankur Singh, April Alonso, Jesus J. Montero, Tomás G. Uriostegui and Estefany Figueroa

Town of Cicero public agencies have received a failing grade for their adherence to the Open Meetings Act and other government transparency guidelines, according to a Cicero Independiente analysis.

This report comes amidst an ever worsening COVID-19 pandemic which is forcing many local governments, including the Town of Cicero, to suspend many in-person events and meetings, thus making transparency and access more difficult than it already was.

The data is published in Cicero Independiente’s Open Government Report Card, modeled by a similar project done by City Bureau in 2019, which grades how local government agencies share information with the public such as agendas, minutes, and schedules.

Based on 12 criteria, Cicero Independiente found that the average score for all of Cicero’s public agencies is 35 percent, an ‘F’ grade. The three local school districts, District 99, District 201, and Morton College all earned the highest score of 75 percent, a ‘C’ grade. Three agencies, the Board of Fire and Police Commission, Board of Health, and the Mental Health Board, all received the lowest score of 8 percent, an ‘F’ grade. No agencies received an ‘A’ grade.

Within the data these top findings emerge:

None of the agencies, who are tasked with serving the Cicero community which is close to 90 percent Latinx, provide simultaneous interpretation services at any meetings. During the town Board of Trustees meeting the Town Clerk will interpret public comments made by Spanish speaking residents but there is no interpretation of the whole meeting. In addition, nearly all agencies fail to provide Spanish translation of their minutes, agendas, or schedules. Only District 99 and District 201 provide translated copies of their agendas, but do not translate their minutes.
Only 16 percent of agencies have a web page where they post agendas, minutes, and schedules online. A few agencies physically tape their agendas on doors and windows in government buildings around town, but do so with inconsistency and are often difficult to locate. Cicero Independiente had to file several public records requests in order to retrieve agendas, minutes, and schedules which according to the Open Meetings Act are supposed to be easily accessible by the public.
Meetings are inaccessible to people who work 9-to-5 jobs with just 16 percent of agencies having meetings that take place in the evenings, and some, like the Library Board, start right at five.
Three agencies do not meet at their publically scheduled time and meetings for other agencies often start late. For instance, the Senior Commission publicly lists its meeting time at 11:30 am, but instead meets at 10am. In 2019 there were four instances when District 201 board meetings started over 30 minutes after the publically scheduled time.

Cicero Independiente pulled data from agency websites and public records requests from January 2019 - December 2019 and attended at least one meeting held by 25 out of 31, or 80 percent of local government agencies from January 2020 - March 2020. The meeting times and locations of the Disability Advisory Board and the Safety Committee were unable to be verified, suggesting that those agencies are currently inactive. Cicero Independiente reporters were also unfortunately unable to attend four agency meetings due to the spread of COVID-19.

What is the Open Meetings Act?

The Open Meetings Act is a state law that requires meetings of public bodies to be open and accessible to members of the public, with a few specific exceptions. The law states that public bodies, "exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business. In order that the people shall be informed.”

Part of the law is making sure local agencies publicly post meeting schedules, agendas, and minutes as well as allow members of the public to make comments during the meeting.

The State of Open Meetings During the COVID-19 Crisis

Cicero currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases out of any Cook County suburb. In addition, workers at several factories have staged protests alleging their companies of violating Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC) guidelines and a large outbreak was recently reported at City View Nursing Center.

Many of the agencies that are responsible for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in Cicero such as the Board of Health, Board of Fire and Police Commission, Senior Commission, and Local Business Assistance Committee, do not have websites and do not post their agendas, schedules, or minutes online. Nor do these agencies provide a virtual option for residents who do not want to leave their homes but still want to stay informed.

Executive order 2020-07, which was signed by Illinois governor J.B. Pritzer on March 16, suspends a provision of the Open Meetings Act which required, “in-person attendance by members of a public body.” Meetings were encouraged, but not required, to provide video, audio, or telephone access and to update their websites and social media feeds so that members of the public could monitor decision-making bodies and stay informed.

According to a records request, all Cicero agencies are still meeting, but the majority of them have not publicly posted any virtual option for members of the public to attend their meetings.

The Town of Cicero did not respond to request for comment.

The March 24 Board of Trustees meeting did offer a call-in number so that residents could listen to the meeting via phone. The number to join the meeting was not posted on the Town’s social media but was instead only listed on the meeting’s agenda document. The meeting happened quickly, no interpretation was provided or additional time given to explain agenda items. Callers were given an opportunity for public comment but only one community member took advantage of the opportunity.

Morton College and District 99 also provide opportunities for the public to listen in via phone, but the phone number was not posted on social media, where most residents receive updates.

What Are Public Meetings in the Town of Cicero Like?

Town of Cicero agency representatives often created unwelcoming environments for Cicero Independiente reporters, who were often the only members of the public in attendance.

During the Roosevelt Road Advisory Committee meeting, Craig Pesek, the Town’s Project Manager who chaired the meeting, ripped out two pages from the agenda before giving a copy of it to the Cicero Independiente reporter in attendance. When the reporter asked for those two pages, Pesek responded that a public records request would have to be filed to retrieve them.

At the President’s Office of Literacy board meeting another Cicero Independiente reporter asked if a flyer for their end of the year celebration would be translated into Spanish. Board member Elaine Pesek, who is also the mother of both Craig Pesek and District 201 Board President Jeff Pesek, responded saying residents should know English because, “This is America.”

The Board of Police and Fire Commission is held behind a locked-door that has a legal notice (written only in English) taped to it which says the room is off limits unless you are a member of the board, the secretary, or a town lawyer. When a Cicero Independiente reporter arrived two minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start and knocked on the door, someone from the meeting jokingly responded, “What’s the password?” The door was then hesitantly opened by a board member. The board member said they had already completed the public portion of the meeting and had moved on to the executive session.

However, there were some meetings, like both the Commercial and Residential Real Estate Housing Boards, where board members were welcoming of new participants. At these meetings, members of the board took the time to explain their purpose and procedures to the Cicero Independiente reporter.

Click here for more information on what the agencies are graded on and to download our data.

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Reporting for this story was made possible by the Social Justice News Nexus at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.