ABOVE: Alderman Tom Hightower calls for Treasurer change possibility to be dropped.
While the Danville City Council has not yet made a final decision on changing the City Treasurer position from elected to appointed, and Mayor Williams is reminding everyone the city still awaits an outside legal opinion from Chicago area law firm Klein, Thorpe, and Jenkins; there was still plenty to say about it during Tuesday (Sept 1) evening’s Danville City Council meeting.
Alderman Tom Hightower spoke up and said, wait a minute, according to the state constitution, the Danville City Council cannot make such a change by themselves. He said after the meeting that “his staff” came up with this information.
AUDIO: I have doctors, I have attorneys, I have judges on my staff. They brought this to my attention, because they knew how I felt about it. The way this reads, “No city with over 10,000 residents can change an elected position.” This city needs to know who’s handling their money.
Alderwoman and mayoral candidate Tricia Teague says the way Danville is right now, that very much applies. In fact, she recalled bringing it up before.
AUDIO: I was trying to find it in a meeting, because I had looked it up at the time that I said it. It’s my belief that we do need to have a number of city wide elected officials. And the only way to do that in our city right now is with the mayor and the treasurer, because those are the only city wide officials we have.
Former Danville City Council Alderwoman Brenda Brown speaking against treasurer change during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Former Alderwoman Brenda Brown once again spoke against the proposed change during “public comment.” She says all this stuff about “Has the consent decree from the 1987 government change been met” makes no sense; because the consent decree was not meant to “just be met,” but to “set up the city for generations to come.”
AUDIO: It was set for good. It was not set for a season to satisfy a few people. Even for me right now, I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews that are going to come; and I want them to be able to maybe to one day be able to sit in these chambers, or be the mayor; or whatever it would take, to be sure that there’s equal representation.
Alderman and mayoral candidate Doug Ahrens; who has expressed the desire for an appointed treasurer, to make sure that there is never again a case of someone elected to the position that can’t do the job; disagrees that the 1987 consent decree was meant to be permanent.
AUDIO: The consent decree does not say “in perpetuity.” The consent decree says “for implementation, the courts retain their jurisdiction.” The documents I’m used to dealing with in government, where they expect something to live on forever; they use words like “in perpetuity” or “until revisited by the courts.”
Danville’s Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr says the way he sees it, this question has been answered; and it should remain status quo. But since enough City Council members wanted a second opinion, so be it.
AUDIO: We have a strong interpretation from our corporation council, (but) I don’t see anything wrong with a second opinion.
Meanwhile, the Danville City Council voted 9-5 to not change aldermen pay to a per diem basis based upon attendance at full City Council meetings.
