Open Brunner Forest Preserve to the public and put a higher priority on restoration of this largest and most expensive purchase ever made by the Forest Preserve District. Support SB 1344, introduced by Senator Michael Noland, or comparable legislation, to amend the Downstate Forest Preserve Act to ban any new sand, gravel, or other mining operations on land owned or acquired by a forest preserve district. Support further amending the Downstate Forest Preserve Act to ban the extraction and sale of natural resources, including gravel, coal, timber, oil, natural gas and water, from land owned or acquired by a forest [...]

Overall, this study finds that there is still room for improvement in transparency with regard to public access to information and, most importantly, acknowledgement of the public's right to know.  Even when the Forest Preserve Commissioners honestly feel that they know best, and are making the best choices for the people they represent, they must make every effort to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the law.  They also need to be cognizant of the potential conflict of interest posed by serving on two boards with different missions, and take steps to deal with that conflict [...]

The Illinois Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120) states "It is the public policy of this State that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business.  In order that the people shall be informed, the General Assembly finds and declares that the actions of public bodies be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly." In addition, the public shall be given advance notice of and the right to attend all meetings at which any business of a [...]

The DuPage County Forest Preserve District shared an elected board with DuPage County for many years until the two government entities split in 2002.  The change came after legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly in 1996 mandated that forest preserve district commissioners in counties having a population greater than 800,000 but less than 3,000,000 be elected separately from county board members.  DuPage County cut the county board's size from 25 (24 plus a chairman) to 18, and created the seven-member forest preserve commission (6 commissioners plus a president).  The split ensured that both the DuPage County Board members and [...]