Four new aldermen, one incumbent take Lincoln City Council seats
First act of business undoes vehicle purchase decision

 

[May 08, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

On Monday evening the council chamber at Lincoln City Hall was filled to capacity with guests taking up standing room only positions in the hallway.

All were there to witness the swearing in of four new, and one incumbent Lincoln aldermen, the promotion of three firefighters and one new hire to the fire department. A fifth alderman was sworn in as a re-elected incumbent.

The evening began with city attorney John Hoblit administering the oath of office to the aldermen.

Taking the task on according to ward, Tracy Welch was sworn in for another term. Of all the aldermen sworn in, Welch is the only one returning to office. Welch serves as Ward One alderman along with Steve Parrott. Parrott was not up for re-election this year.

The second person to be sworn in was a new alderman for Ward Two, Kathryn Schmidt. Schmidt ran for the office and was the only alderman on the ballot who was opposed by another candidate. At the time of her swearing in, Schmidt was the only representative for Ward Two. She filled the seat of former Alderwoman Michelle Bauer. On the other side of the room, Ward Two Alderman Ron Fleshman’s seat was also vacated. As an appointed alderman, Fleshman could have run for election this year, but chose not to do so.

Kevin Bateman was sworn in as the Ward Three alderman. Bateman is a former member of the Logan County Board and resigned that position just recently so as to take his seat on the city council. Bateman will represent Ward Three along with Alderman Ron Keller.

The Ward Four position was filled by Kathy Horn. Horn is a returning alderwoman, but now in a different ward. Horn had been a Ward Two Alderwoman for many years. In the last couple of years she has had some health issues, and last year felt she should resign from the council so that the constituents of Ward Two could have appropriate representation. When Horn recovered from a serious back injury, she relocated to a home in Ward Four.

Dayne Dalpoas was the Ward Four alderman, appointed when Alderman Rick Hoefle resigned. Dalpoas chose not to run for election. Horn will sit opposite of another veteran alderman, Jeff Hoinacki.

With the four aldermen sworn in, the next group to come before Hoblit were the firefighters. After the firefighters were sworn in, the roll was taken and Mayor Seth Goodman asked for a change of order so as to consider the appointment of Sam Downs as the second Ward Two alderman filling Fleshman’s position.

The mayor has the responsibility of selecting an alderman when one is not elected, or when the seat falls vacant within a two year period of the next official election. The mayor then adds his or her selection to a voting agenda for the full council to approve in a vote that is termed “advice and consent.”

On Monday evening, Mayor Goodman sought a motion to approve Sam Downs as the second Ward Two alderman. The council voted unanimously to accept the recommendation.

Downs was then sworn in by Hoblit. Down had sought the Ward Two seat when Fleshman was appointed, and also ran against Kathy Schmidt for the four-year seat available on the other side of the room. In this seat, Downs will have the option to run for election in two years.

When all the aldermen had been sworn in and were seated, City Administrator Beth Kavelman and Hoblit offered up an overview of the position of aldermen. Each was given a manual outlining some of the important factors involved in filling the position of alderman. Hoblit spoke to the aldermen about how to adhere to the Open Meetings Act and cautioned all the aldermen about talking about city business with each other when not in an adjourned meeting.

He explained the concept of quorum and quorum majority and said that by the rule of quorum majority based on eight aldermen, whenever three or more aldermen are in the same place at the same time, they should avoid any and all conversation that pertains to the city. He said there was also the theory of “perceived impropriety,” where the general public may confuse an innocent gathering as unethical or illegal according to the rules of the Open Meetings Act. He urged the aldermen to always be cautious.

He also expressed that the same situation is true with emails. If three or more aldermen are engaged in an exchange of emails pertaining to city business that qualifies as an open meeting.

Hoblit went on to explain the concept of Executive Session and outlined briefly how and why an executive session may be called.

In addition to the manual presented by Kavelman, she also provided each alderman with a paperback book from the Illinois Municipal League that is a written guide for newly elected city officials. Hoblit also endorsed the book saying that it was a very good resource for all the aldermen.

He also advised that the Illinois Municipal League will be holding workshops in June for newly elected officials and while that may be a voluntary participation, he would suggest the aldermen give it consideration.

In their first night as city officials, the aldermen did not have a great deal of business to take care of. The most important item on the agenda was the motion to revoke a previous vote to purchase a vehicle from Landmark Ford in Springfield. The aldermen were given a refresher of how and why it was determined that this vote should be taken. Then the motion was made and approved.

It was also noted by Bateman that as an employee of Landmark Ford he would be voting to repeal the original vote. However, he said if Landmark does bid again, he would abstain from that vote. Bateman also requested that the council require bids to be mailed with a post mark on the envelope and that the bids would be opened in the full council to assure transparency.

Kavelman agreed that the bids should be sealed until opened in council chambers and noted that the city used to always do this.

The bidding process for the vehicle will now start over and alderman may expect to have those bids presented again at some point in the future.

[Nila Smith]