Elmhurst Finance Panel Keeps Closing Doors

ELMHURST, IL – With a budget shortfall, aldermen on Elmhurst's finance committee were supposed to roll up their sleeves and take a "deep dive" to find places to cut spending this year.

Not much has happened yet – at least publicly.

Instead, the Finance, Council Affairs and Administrative Services Committee has spent about two-thirds of its time since late January behind closed doors.

During that time, members have been in closed session for nearly 3½ hours and in open session for two hours.

Under state law, a public body can only meet in a closed session for limited purposes. The committee has been citing issues about specific employees and deliberations about salary schedules for at least one class of employees.

Discussions about budget cuts, while sometimes uncomfortable, must be done in public.

In response to Patch's inquiry last month, the committee's chairwoman, Noel Talluto, said she was unable to provide any information about the sessions.

Besides Talluto, the committee's members are aldermen James Nudera, Jacob Hill and Dan Virgil. They have voted unanimously to go into each closed session.

They have another closed session planned during their meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

According to the city's website, the committee is responsible for revenue and expenditures, purchasing, personnel, the budget, data processing and public improvement financing.