After getting rebuked by the state, the Lyons Township High School School Board announced Monday it would release audio from eight public meetings where officials discussed a land sale out of earshot of residents who were largely against it.
The meetings were held in closed session, and on Oct. 25, the Illinois Attorney General’s office sent a letter notifying the district and others the meetings, held from April 2022 to February 2023 violated the open meetings act and should have been held in public.
For years the district has looked to sell 72-acres of undeveloped property in Willow Springs. The district had planned to sell the land for $55 million and use that money to upgrade district facilities, but residents balked when they discovered the potential buyer wanted to turn the property into an industrial park surrounded by a residential area. The proposed move quickly became so unpopular, dozens of residents packed school board meetings and board discussions moved behind closed doors, improperly out of earshot of residents, the state indicated.
State law allows public bodies to discuss the potential price of the sale of public land, but even then, a board must declare that as a reason for the closed session. The decision last week indicates the discussions went well beyond land prices.
Besides the letter last week, the state had already cited the school district for violating the open meetings act for another 2022 closed door discussion over the same land sale. In audio released from that meeting, the board discussed political opposition to the sale and strategies for pushing the sale forward.
Following the most recent letter, which requires the district to release all the audio from the meetings aside from some portion that includes protected discussion, the district will likely release recordings of the eight meetings at some point in the future, following the attorney general’s decision.
“Audio from those meetings is being reviewed to be released,” said board President Jill Grech. Grech said three current board members were not on the board during any of the closed-door meetings and they needed to get caught up on the land sale discussions.
“We plan to include this as an agenda item to our Nov. 18 regular meeting,” Grech said.
After intense Willow Springs pushback to the industrial park sale, the district held on to the land. Then in November 2023, Willow Springs village officials announced they would not consider any development proposals for the land for six months. Five months after that, the district in January received a second, unsolicited offer for $20 million from a home developer. However, to approve any offer the district has to go through a public bid process first. The district has not done that and the property remains firmly in LTHS possession.
A handful of area residents attended Monday’s meeting and while the attorney general’s decision — and the ultimate scotching of the industrial proposal — was good news for residents. One, Jim Distasio, said he hopes the district will come clean and release the full audio from the closed sessions, minus the protected bits.
“We’re not just here because of the violations,” he told the board. “We’re here because you also violated your oath between an elected board and the public it represents.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
