Learn the right way to conduct our government

The Lyndon Village Board did the wrong
thing when it voted, in closed session, to fire an employee. The board did the right thing when it conducted a revote in open session. Members should learn the Open Meetings Act and abide by it.

Some people have heard the old saying, It’s good enough for government work.

That well-worn phrase is meant as an excuse for a sloppy, haphazard or lackadaisical approach to the job at hand. People laugh when they hear it, so they must detect within the saying a kernel of truth.

But it surely must grate on the nerves of people who want open, honest and transparent government – especially when it comes to government meetings.

State law governs the conduct of those meetings. The Illinois Open Meetings Act is the roadmap. It describes the legal and proper manner by which government meetings are to operate.

And it’s specific. It describes how to do certain things, and how not to do them.

It came as a surprise, then, when the Lyndon Village Board committed a gross violation of the Open Meetings Act on Jan. 23. Village President Tim Crady and board members entered executive (closed) session to discuss an issue involving a maintenance employee, Will Shaffer.

Afterward, Crady said the board had voted, in closed session, to fire the village worker.

That action was in direct violation of the Open Meetings Act. The law says all votes must be taken in public session.

Crady later said he “dropped the ball” when he condoned the vote in executive session. He convened a special session of the board and called for another vote, in public, about the employee’s fate.

The board again voted to dismiss Shaffer. This time, though, the public learned who voted to fire him – DJ Sikkema, Lori Davis, Becky Piester and Larry Stone – and who voted against the motion – Les Williams and Lyle Armstrong. The 4-2 vote was the same in public as it was in private, officials said.

We commend Crady for admitting his error.

We commend board members for willingly taking another vote and doing it in public.