Post by Logan on Jun 12, 2016 6:58:38 GMT -6
Illinois AG office asked to investigate McLean County health board operations
BLOOMINGTON — The Illinois Attorney General’s office has been asked to investigate apparent violations of the state’s Open Meetings Act by Health Department Administrator Walt Howe and three officers of the McLean County Board of Health, accused of conducting public business behind closed doors and via email.
The request was made in a May 20 letter from McLean County State’s Attorney Jason Chambers, who outlined concerns over email exchanges that totaled more than 4,000 pages between Howe and board President Becky Powell, Vice-President Jane Turley and Secretary Cory Tello.
The emails, obtained by The Pantagraph via a Freedom of Information request, shed light on a long-running dispute between the Board of Health and county officials over decision-making authority for the agency that deteriorated into name-calling, secret meetings and a power struggle among board members and officials. In the documents, one official is called a “manipulative snake,” someone who questions their plans is a “cranky old bird,” while the McLean County Board itself is in “this power crazed whirlwind.”
There’s even a bit of paranoia, as Turley, who works at Illinois State University, wonders if a FOIA request is a “smear campaign” and Howe wonders why someone keeps postponing a scheduled meeting.
Read more: www.pantagraph.com/news/local/illinois-ag-office-asked-to-investigate-health-board-operations/article_dd88d85d-5118-5a79-b4db-6ed0c95f8d1c.html
BLOOMINGTON — The Illinois Attorney General’s office has been asked to investigate apparent violations of the state’s Open Meetings Act by Health Department Administrator Walt Howe and three officers of the McLean County Board of Health, accused of conducting public business behind closed doors and via email.
The request was made in a May 20 letter from McLean County State’s Attorney Jason Chambers, who outlined concerns over email exchanges that totaled more than 4,000 pages between Howe and board President Becky Powell, Vice-President Jane Turley and Secretary Cory Tello.
The emails, obtained by The Pantagraph via a Freedom of Information request, shed light on a long-running dispute between the Board of Health and county officials over decision-making authority for the agency that deteriorated into name-calling, secret meetings and a power struggle among board members and officials. In the documents, one official is called a “manipulative snake,” someone who questions their plans is a “cranky old bird,” while the McLean County Board itself is in “this power crazed whirlwind.”
There’s even a bit of paranoia, as Turley, who works at Illinois State University, wonders if a FOIA request is a “smear campaign” and Howe wonders why someone keeps postponing a scheduled meeting.
Read more: www.pantagraph.com/news/local/illinois-ag-office-asked-to-investigate-health-board-operations/article_dd88d85d-5118-5a79-b4db-6ed0c95f8d1c.html