Danville City Council Decides to Keep Voting Rules the Same; Deferring to State Rules that Eight Votes are Needed for Passage

It was late last year that Danville Corporation Counsel Leon Parker determined that Danville did not have their own law about how many City Council votes it takes to pass an ordinance.  Parker stated at the time that therefore the city had to follow what the state uses, and that meant that a solid majority of all elected aldermen, eight of 14, would be needed; no matter how many aldermen happened to be present during any vote.

Since that discovery, there has been some work by a small group of aldermen to perhaps bring about a change.  The proposed change before the Council Tuesday (April 15th) night would have allowed a majority of whatever number of aldermen happen to be present; for instance, seven out of 13.  But both a motion to table the vote until the new City Council comes aboard in May, and the proposal itself, were voted down during Tuesday’s meeting.

Incoming Alderman and Former Director of Public Works Doug Ahrens stated after the vote that what bothered him the most was the actual discussions about the proposal did not take place out in the open.

AUDIO: I think public business needs to be conducted in front of the public and the media, and I think that’s the biggest problem with this particular resolution.  It was done behind closed doors.  That’s not the way to do public business.  So, we’re looking forward to having things out in the open where people can talk about it.  There were good points brought up on things that need to be addressed.

Incoming Alderman Doug Ahrens speaks on voting rules issue; Alderwoman Eve Ludwig (center) and Vice-Mayor Tricia Teague (right) state their opinions prior to vote.

One of the points brought up during discussion came from Vice-Mayor Tricia Teague.  She stated that if you allowed passage by a number smaller than eight, it could open the door to chaos and suspicious maneuvering; as far as pushing for something to be on the agenda when it is known that there will be absences.

AUDIO: And I’m not trying to imply that anybody here would actually do that.  I would hope that wouldn’t be the case; but it’s still a possibility.  Anybody can do vote counting, and try to determine who’s going to be there when; and when’s the best time to bring something up.  That’s not the way the democratic process should work.

Alderwoman Eve Ludwig stated that Danville is a home rule community, and therefore should have its own law on this at some point, no matter which way it goes.  But after Tuesday’s vote, they continue to pass the buck.

AUDIO: And so then we have to default to the state law, in order to determine what laws we go by.  And so the law of the state requires a majority of the alderpersons and the Council voting to pass an ordinance measure provision, generally.  And so that’s what we have go by, what’s in the state law; because we don’t have anything within our own ordinances.

The next Danville City Council meeting is Tuesday, May 6th.