MOUNT VERNON — In an email dated April 3, Mt. Vernon Mayor Mary Jane Chesley was formally informed by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office of an inquiry into allegedly illegal meetings she and the city held regarding the potential sale of the city’s water and waste water systems.
Assistant Attorney General Neil Olson gives Chesley 7 days after receipt of the email to provide his office with requested materials, such as agendas and minutes, describing all meetings for which advance notice was provided to the public and any other gatherings between January 21 and March 22, of this year, in which members of the City Council discussed the possible sale of the systems.
He said the Attorney General’s Office determined the further inquiry was warranted after receiving a Request for Review from Kent Southers, alleging the Council had repeatedly violated the Open Meetings Act.
Southers also alleged in his complaint that the Council has not conducted semi-annual reviews of closed session minutes to determine if the legal need for confidentiality exists.
Olson further seeks the verbatim recording of the last closed session in which the Council conducted such a review, as well as the minutes of the last open session meeting in which the council reported the continued need for legal confidentiality of closed session minutes.

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