Closed Sessions

118 Illinois PAC opinions and determination letters about closed sessions.

Closed Sessions: what the decisions show

This topic covers when a public body may close part of a meeting to the public. The decisions address the scope of exceptions for personnel matters, real property, and litigation, as well as procedures for entering closed session, documenting the basis, making verbatim recordings, and the requirement to take final action in open session.

Across these decisions, the Public Access Counselor found violations where discussion went beyond the cited exception, such as general budget, salary, or property matters discussed as specific employees or real estate, where litigation was cited without a qualifying basis, where final action was taken in closed session, and where majorities of members met privately without proper notice and procedure. The holdings emphasize keeping closed discussion narrowly within the authorized topic and conducting other business openly.

At a glance: 115 documents from 2011 to 2026(27 binding opinions, 88 determination letters). Outcome: 75 found a violation (in whole or part), 23 found none. Most often cited alongside: 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) (Employee/contractor appointment, discipline, or performance) (18); 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11) (Pending, probable, or imminent litigation) (17); 5 ILCS 120/2(c) (General closed-session exceptions) (16); 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5) (Purchase or lease of real property) (5); 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(6) (Setting a sale/lease price for public body's own property) (5).

Recurring issues

Public bodies cited real estate exceptions but discussed other property or financial matters outside that exception. (Closed-session discussion of real property acquisition, Closed-session discussion of property sale or lease pricing, A board's closed-session discussion of property sale or lease)
Public bodies cited the exception for specific employees but discussed general topics such as budgets, layoffs, across-the-board raises, elected officials, or evaluation processes. (Closed-session discussion of budget and layoff decisions, Closed-session discussion of employee pay raises, A finance committee's closed-session discussion of elected officials' duties and salaries)
Public bodies took final action during closed session instead of voting in open session. (City council's closed-session authorization of a real estate contract, A board's final vote on closed session minutes)
Public bodies entered closed session without proper procedure or held private gatherings of a majority of members without proper notice. (A village board's closed-session discussion of overdue loans, A county board's private informational meeting, A library board's unannounced private meeting)

Practical points

Identify the specific closed-session exception and limit discussion to the matter within that exception.
Take votes authorizing contracts or approving actions in open session rather than in closed session.
Make and retain a verbatim recording of every closed session.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.