Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins’ partners Carmen P. Forte, Jr. and Mallory A. Milluzzi will present at the Illinois Library Association (ILA) Annual Conference on Thursday, October 8. Drawing on the firm’s work representing nearly 100 libraries and library districts across Illinois, the pair will lead two sessions as part of the conference’s Trustee Day programming.

During their first session “Executive Session Exposed: What You Can (and Can’t) Say Behind Closed Doors,” Carmen and Mallory will work through the closed session provisions of the Open Meetings Act that library boards most often misapply.

The session will cover these key highlights:

• The statutory exceptions that authorize a closed session, and the ones public bodies most often stretch
• How to properly enter and exit a closed session
• Verbatim recording and minutes requirements, including what must eventually be released
• How procedural missteps can call the validity of board action into question
• Common fact patterns behind Public Access Counselor complaints

Later that day, Carmen and Mallory will return for “Disruptions, Protests, and Problem Patrons: Keeping Order Without Crossing the Line,” a session on responding to disruptive behavior at board meetings and in the library itself within legal limits.

The session will cover these key highlights:

• Drafting behavior policies that are defensible when enforced
• Removing a disruptive individual from library property
• Managing public comment at board meetings
• Responding to escalating situations without creating legal exposure for the library
• Where First Amendment protections limit a library’s options

Learn more and register here.

Carmen serves as counsel to several municipal libraries and library districts throughout Illinois, as well as municipalities, school districts, special districts and corporate and non-profit clients. He regularly litigates in state and federal court and before administrative agencies, and has prosecuted DUI and traffic offenses, along with local ordinance and licensing matters for the firm’s municipal clients. Carmen serves as Village Attorney for Campton Hills, City Attorney for Sandwich, Assistant Village Attorney for Schaumburg and Vernon Hills, and Special Counsel for River Grove.

Mallory counsels school districts, municipalities and public bodies on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Open Meetings Act (OMA), zoning, telecommunications, social media and general municipal and school law, and has litigated PSEBA, First Amendment and civil rights claims. She frequently presents on FOIA, OMA, ethics and social media, and regularly trains newly elected officials.

Founded in 1896, the ILA is the third largest state library association in the country and a chapter of the American Library Association. The ILA Annual Conference brings the state’s library community together each fall for continuing education and professional networking.