Clark County Board Meets Behind Closed Doors on Property Purchase

Clark County Board | September 18, 2026

Article Summary: The Clark County Board spent the largest single block of its Sept. 18 meeting in closed session discussing the purchase or lease of property for the public body, entering at 8:16 a.m. and returning to open session at 9:08 a.m. No action on the subject was taken after the board reconvened, and the minutes do not identify the property.

Closed Session Key Points:

• The board entered executive session at 8:16 a.m. under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5) and returned at 9:08 a.m.
• The closed portion accounted for 52 of the meeting’s 75 minutes.
• Chairman Rex Goble signed the closed meeting certification as presiding officer.
• No formal action can be taken in closed session, and the minutes record none on the subject in open session afterward.

CLARK COUNTY — The Clark County Board on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, went into closed session to discuss the purchase or lease of property for the public body, spending the better part of its meeting out of public view before returning to finish routine business.

Board member Mike Parsons moved to go into executive session at 8:16 a.m., seconded by Randal Stephens. All members present voted aye, and the chairman declared the meeting in executive session for provision 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5) regarding the purchase or lease of property for the public body. The posted agenda renders the same item as the purchase or lease of real property for the public body.

Executive session ended at 9:08 a.m. and the board went back into regular session. With the meeting called to order at 8 a.m. and adjourned at 9:15 a.m., the closed portion accounted for 52 of the meeting’s 75 minutes.

The minutes carry a closed meeting certification signed by Rex Goble as presiding officer, attesting that he understands Section 2 of the Illinois Open Meetings Act and that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, no other topic was discussed during the closed portion of the meeting.

No Action Recorded After the Board Reconvened

The Open Meetings Act permits a public body to close a meeting to discuss a limited set of enumerated subjects, among them the purchase or lease of property, but no formal action may be taken in closed session. Any decision must be made in open session after the body reconvenes.

The minutes record no such action here. On returning to regular session the board took up committee reports, then approved preceding bills, then one day and mileage claims, then adjourned. None of those items is described in the record as relating to a property purchase or lease.

The minutes do not identify the property under discussion, its location, its owner, its intended use, or whether the county is considering a purchase, a lease, or both. No dollar figure, appraisal, option or deadline appears anywhere in the record. Nothing in the materials connects the closed session to any other item that came before the board that morning, including the delinquent tax resolution and the farm lease renewals approved earlier in the meeting — both of which concern county property matters, and neither of which the record links to the closed discussion.

Readers should take the length of the session as the only measure available of how substantial the matter is. At 52 minutes, it occupied more of the board’s morning than every open-session item combined.