DANVILLE — A majority of council members seem to be in favor of changing the city treasurer position to an appointed one rather than elected.
The question is: do they change how the position is decided — by a referendum vote or by a city ordinance — with the most vocal proponents of a city ordinance citing past issues?
“We were put on a stop payment by the IDOT,” Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. recalled. “There were two years that we would have been able to do no roadwork in the city of Danville, if it hadn’t been for the exceptional stewardship of our department heads and leaders.”
Williams said the city could have lost the local sales tax funds.
“Not only could we have lost the grant money, and any potential grant money, they could have put us on a stop order payment for the entire city of Danville,” Williams said. “We would not even get our local sales tax… imagine if we had no revenue with which to do the business of the city.”
The city attorney, Leon Parker, explained the routes the council can take to change the position from an elected to an appointed one.
“I’m not necessarily opposed to a referendum. I guess one question would be, could it also be an advisory referendum?” Alderman Doug Ahrens asked. “This is not something that the public is tuned into. They don’t deal with the treasurer unless they’re collecting a check from them; they don’t know what the treasurer does.”
Ahrens added that he thinks putting the decision to a referendum will be difficult to get passed because “of the angst with government these days, and as I’ve observed it over the last 20 years. It’s a real problem, and … that’s why I said advisory referendum.
“I have no problem with people giving their opinions.”
Alderman Rick Strebing agreed to make it an ordinance decision.
“We put our faith in an individual who didn’t do anything wrong, just didn’t do anything” Strebing said. “Our constituents believe we’re all voted on to be here, and believe me, if you make a bad decision, you’re going to hear about it first thing tomorrow morning or tonight.”
Alderwoman Tricia Teague said she has not finalized a decision.
“I know that is a concern of citizens, and so it needs to be addressed,” Teague said. ” I think that one of the reasons why we’re looking at this is because we recognize that because the issues that we had previously and the jeopardy that it put the city in. There is also the potential for another course of action, which is allowing for recall of elected position.”
Williams said he was not sure a removal would be possible beyond criminal action by the elected official.
Aherns agreed, saying, “recall is not an option.”
Alderman pay raises were also discussed, as well as having that pay tied to their attendance.
Council decided to revisit these topics in a future meeting.