WCHA Could Not Follow Its Own Public-Comment Rules.
A hostile meeting became a state review. Illinois found that WCHA failed to follow its own established order for hearing the public.
Read or download the PAC letter (PDF)
The Wayne County Housing Authority’s bylaws put public comment after roll call and before approval of the minutes. At its June 18, 2025, meeting, the board did not follow that order. The Public Access Bureau found that the departure violated section 2.06(g) of the Open Meetings Act. PAC determination, pages 2–3
The dispute grew out of a meeting in which Ronald Baker objected to matters before the board, a resident criticized him, and he was removed. WCHA described his conduct as disruptive. Baker challenged the board’s control of the meeting and its treatment of public participation. The state’s decision supplies a concrete finding amid those competing accounts.
The board’s defense and the meeting transcript
In its July 9 response, the board said the chair asked for public comments after Baker objected to a line item in the May minutes. It blamed Baker for repeated interruptions and said police were needed when he would not leave. That is the agency’s own explanation, not a conclusion this article has silently adopted. Read the board’s response letter
The supplied meeting transcript records repeated disputes over decorum and the handling of objections, threats of removal, discussion of calling police, and a resident asking about bedbugs. It also contains Baker’s interruptions and repeated challenges to the chair. Readers can examine the exchanges and the submitter’s annotations themselves. June 18 transcript and annotations
The PAC reviewed a recording and noted a declaration from Cinnamon Willett, who said the atmosphere intimidated her and she left. The bureau nevertheless did not conclude that allowing criticism of Baker itself violated the Act, or that the board would have prohibited Willett from speaking had she tried later. Those limits are part of the decision. Evidence and limits of the findings, page 3
Residents should not have to guess when they may speak
The finding the PAC did make was direct: WCHA failed to hold public comment in the order established by its own bylaws. It told the board to follow that sequence so people could anticipate when they would be heard, and recommended fuller written public-comment rules if the board had not already adopted them. The file closed without a binding opinion. Directions to the board, pages 3–4
A meeting does not become well run because officials repeatedly call someone disruptive. The chair must manage the actual sequence, apply the rules, and keep participation understandable. The transcript describes a room consumed by conflict; the state established a procedural failure underneath it. In Monster News’s view, that combination is an indictment of the board’s meeting management, not an example of competent oversight.
Read the source documents
- PAC letter — December 29, 2025
- July 9, 2025 board response on PAC 87549 — original source page 6
- June 18, 2025 supplied transcript with annotations — original combined source pages 5–19
These are public reading copies of records held by Monster News. Private contact details are redacted; originals are retained. Extracts are identified in the document labels. Submitted transcripts and annotations are identified as such and are not certified official transcripts. This report distinguishes the PAC outcome from complaints and editorial judgment.
Cover: AI-generated editorial illustration. The room, objects and documents are symbolic.
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