THE ISSUE   A man was thwarted in his Freedom of Information Act request for details regarding $1 million in TIF funds.

OUR VIEW   The village president had publicized these potentially confidential documents by discussing them in public.

Governments work best when their actions are scrutinized by the public.

Yet, discussing sensitive information may hinder some projects. Municipalities sometimes must work out plans behind closed doors.

La Grange Village President Liz Asperger touched on this issue during last week’s Village Board meeting. She discussed a news report on confidential documents regarding $1 million in tax increment financing to renovate the La Grange Theatre.

Thom Rae, requested the documents through the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Rae received a heavily redacted summary from Village Manager Robert Pilipiszyn but was denied other, related documents.

“(T)here are occasions when the best interests of the community are served by allowing its elected officials to confidentially consider a proposal, review proprietary financial information or discuss a preliminary recommendations regarding sensitive matter,” Asperger said last week.

She’s right — to a point. She cited Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who said some documents pertaining to sensitive information should remain confidential.

Madigan, who created the Public Access Bureau in her office a few years ago, was recently quoted in a news report as saying she supports an exception to the state’s Freedom of Information Act. She said “preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda and other records in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions formulated” should be kept private.

Some information should remain confidential, but this should be the very rare exception rather than the rule. Let’s not forget that any business conducted by a governmental body is the people’s business, and people have a right to know what decisions their elected officials are making.

Rae points out that Asperger referred to the TIF documents last year in a public workshop. He said he would not have thought of requesting the documents had Asperger not mentioned them.

Asperger opened the door to Rae’s inquiry by referring to these documents in an open session. She can’t reveal their identity in a public setting and expect to keep them private for long. Those documents should be made public.