Shelby County, IL. (ECWd) –

During the 4 hour and 15 minute Shelby County Board Meeting on August 12, 2021, the board considered and voted on two items not listed properly on the meeting agenda.

• They voted to appoint the State’s Attorney as Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (“GATA”)  Coordinator for the county
• They voted to limit public comment time to once per meeting with a 3 minute time limit per speaker

However, the items were listed on the agenda as follows:

• “Discussion and vote on recommendation for Steve Melega as GATA Coordinator”
• “Appoint Erica Firnhaber as GATA Coordinator for Shelby County”
• “Limit public body comment to 1 time per meeting, instead of the current 2 and limit speaking time to 5 minutes per person”

The actual vote did not represent what they told the public they were going to vote on.

During the second public comment time, I asked the board to vote to reconsider those two items and place them on the agenda for the next meeting since the actual vote did not reflect what was listed on the agenda.

The board did reconsider both items, approved the reconsideration, and the appointment will be on the next agenda. The matter of changing public comment was re-voted on as listed on the agenda (1 time per meeting, 5 minutes per person) and passed as listed.

We appreciate the board complying with the Open Meetings Act on these two items.

You can see my comments and their reconsideration votes in the below video: