Gov. Bruce Rauner with McHenry County board member Michele Aavang.

An alleged violation of the open meetings act by members of the McHenry County Board attending a speech by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, has prompted a civil lawsuit by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. A July 7 default conference has been set in the Woodstock Circuit Court.

At issue is whether two or more, of the eight county board members, discussed Rauner’s “Turnaround” agenda following the Apr. 8 speech, which would turn the private meeting into an open public session where the constituency was not notified, and no records were evidently kept. According to union officials, the public was turned away from the opera house by uniformed police.

Further adding controversy is the full board’s passage of a non-binding resolution supporting Rauner’s agenda, during its Apr. 9 meeting. According to the lawsuit, “On or about March 26, 2015, Gov. Bruce Rauner, through the Illinois Municipal League, sent a sample resolution in support of his “Turnaround Agenda” to counties and municipalities across the State of Illinois,” for passage.

The complaint, filed Apr. 17, also states that “On or about April 3, 2015, the Woodstock City Council posted its agenda notifying the public that it would “consider and approve” the Governor’s resolution during its April 7, 2015 City Council Meeting. The McHenry County Board also posted a similar item on its Apr. 6 agenda notice for the Apr. 9 meeting.

“The full council tabled the resolution, and it never came up for a vote,” said Woodstock city Manager Roscoe Stelford. “The Apr. 7 action basically removes an item, so there is no more discussion. It’s a formal process to kill something on the table to eliminate it from discussion.”

Stelford also said that the Apr. 7 meeting was moved to the Woodstock High School, due to the overflow audience of 300 people attending the meeting with concerns about the resolution.

According to the lawsuit, “The “Turnaround Agenda” resolution supports drastic changes to collective bargaining rights, project labor agreements, prevailing wage laws, workers’ compensation laws, employee fair-share requirements, public employee pensions, and seeks the creation of so-called ‘Empowerment Zones’ which would allow local governments to pass ‘Right-to-Work’ laws.”

As for the opera house speech, the suit also contends, “Gov. Rauner, members of the Woodstock City Council, members of the McHenry County Board, and three members of the press were notified of the meeting.”

On Apr. 8, McHenry County posted pictures of the meeting on its Facebook page, with one showing Gov. Rauner with the county board members. The caption read: Governor’s visit this morning to the Woodstock Opera House to discuss the Turnaround Agenda and how it will empower voters with more local control.”

Thresholds for the 24-member Mc Henry County Board include a 13-member total for quorum, with seven members being required for a majority of the quorum.

The photo depicts Gov. Rauner, with eight board members: Yvonne Barnes (District 1), James L. “Jim” Heisler (District 2), Chairman Joseph Gottemoller (District 3), Nick Provenzano (District 3), Charles “Chuck” Wheeler (District 4), Tina Hill (District 5), Michele Aavang (District 6), and Larry W. Smith (District 6).

“In order to violate the act, a majority of a quorum has to be present discussing public business without posting a meeting notice,” said Ed Maher, the I.O.U.E. Local 150’s spokesperson. “The day after Gov. Rauner came to town, and held this closed meeting, the full board voted, against strong opposition.

“They posted photos on Facebook, and in doing so, they acknowledged that more than the quorum was discussing the agenda. County board members have said they were just present at meeting, as they’ve posting they were discussing the resolution. The public was kept out by police.”

Although the concern is violating the open meetings act, another aspect is that county taxpayers would be forced to pay for the board’s legal defense in court. An adjunct criticism also revolves around the perception of the union filling the suit over displeasure with Rauner’s agenda.

“We’ve been very open with the fact that we oppose his agenda, and there is a large body of academic evidence that shows these proposals will not fix the situation,” said Maher. “Did we file as a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction? No. Despite overwhelming opposition by the public to this resolution, the county board passed it.

“And then, it emerged that several county board members participated in a closed and illegal meeting with the Gov., so the public has a right to know what happened in those meetings. Government bodies have funds set up for legal defenses, but by doing this, the board has exposed the taxpayers to the cost.”

The county board has not issued a response to the lawsuit. We have received the documents and the lawsuit is in the review stages,” said Scott Hartmann, Mc Henry County’s deputy county administrator. “As a result, we cannot make any comment on the lawsuit at this time.”

The Countryside-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 is a labor organization representing 23,000 working men and women in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.