TELECONFERENCE MEETING
By RICHARD G. FLOOD and Trustee TOM SWAN, Lake in the Hills
Editorial Note: Issues related to "Sunshire Laws in the Computer
Era" are arising with continued frequency. The Local Government
Section Council of the ISBA has formed a subcommittee to address
these issues and would appreciate hearing from local officials who
have run into dilemmas in light of increasing technology. Please
send any comments to Beth Janicki, Chief Counsel, IML, 500 E.
Capitol P.O. Box 5180, Springfield, IL 62701.
Recently, the Illinois Appellate Court in Freedom
Oil Company v. The Illinois Pollution Control Board,
211 Ill.Dec. 801, 655 N.E.2d 1184 (Ill.App. 4 Dist.
1995), held that participation via teleconferencing in
an open meeting by members of a public body does
not violate the Open Meetings Act. Following this decision, the Village of Lake in the Hills had an opportunity to conduct a number of meetings, where one
member participated via teleconferencing.
In June, Trustee Thomas Swan underwent major
surgery which required an extended convalescence,
but nonetheless did not prohibit him from participating in meetings via teleconferencing. The Village obtained a Polycom Sound Station allowing Swan to participate in Board meetings by teleconference.
Subsequently, he participated in six meetings via teleconferencing. The meetings went surprisingly well.
However, the experience affords us the perspective to
make the following observations, which may be helpful
to future public bodies considering the use of teleconferencing for meetings.
1. While Trustee Swan's medical condition prohibited him from participating except via teleconferencing, it seems appropriate that each public body,
considering teleconferencing, adopt rules governing
the scope of its use. We recommend consideration of
the following issues in establishing such rules:
a. Should a quorum be physically present for
each meeting or may all members participate
via teleconferencing;
b. Should voice votes be allowed or must all
votes be taken on the roll call if members
participate via teleconferencing;
c. Under what circumstances may members
participate via teleconferencing:
i. medical reasons only and if so, who makes
this determination, the member or a physician?
ii. unavailability due to business?
iii. unavailability because of inconvenience?
iv. unavailability due to vacation? and
v. no reason necessary.
d. May more than one member be in the same
remote location and participate via teleconferencing raising the prospect of consultation
by the two absent members out of public view;
e. Should a member's participation by teleconferencing be part of the public notice; and
f. Should the public be allowed to participate
via teleconference?
We also make the following observations:
a. State of the art equipment is essential.
Speakerphones have physical limitations. The
audio is voice activated and depending upon
the noise on either end of the teleconference
and, when the audio cuts in and out, portions
of comments can be missed. Also, the absent
member does not know when he/she may appropriately speak without causing interruption of others, thus creating a possible reluctance to speak depending upon the individual absent member.
b. Participation by teleconferencing inherendy
carries with it various other problems. For example:
i. There is no face-to-face contact with the public.
ii. There is no personal interaction between
the absent and present members of the
local governmental body.
Page 32 I Illinois Municipal Review / October 1996
iii.The absent member cannot view overheads, videos, handouts or exhibits presented
at the meeting.
Despite all of the above, the Lake in the Hills experience was a positive one. The public in attendance
seemed to accept as quite natural participation by telephone. Because of busy schedules and limited time, it
seems likely that more and more future public meetings will be conducted with one or more members participating via teleconferencing. Problems with teleconferencing exist as discussed above. However, overcoming these problems or, at the very least, living with
them seems preferable to having members absent. •
October 1996 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 33