DANVILLE — Danville City Council once again debated changing the treasurer position to an appointed position.
However, this time there was a consensus to seek outside legal counsel on the matter.
Alderman Doug Ahrens is for the possible change.
“And so, I feel that’s consistent with what we’ve been told to this point by our current corporation counsel,” Ahrens said. “My position has not changed. I think this backs up the information we’ve provided.”
Alderman Tricia Teague is staunchly against change without consulting voters first.
She has argued since the position was changed to a elected one decades ago by the courts, if the council wishes to change the position they should consult the voters or the courts.
“When it comes to that, one of the things that I asked myself was, well, who can change the consent decree? And when I think about the law and what comes out of court, it is the court [that] gets to decide,” Teague said. “if this is going to change, it should go back to the court that presided over it in the first place, because that is where the decision came down from.
“If we do decide to go ahead and make this change on our own, I imagine that someone will come back and say, ‘Well, you know what? This is illegal, and I’m going to sue you,’ and then we end up in court in the first place, so we might as well just go ahead [and] either petition the court or ask the people.”
Teague was not the only one speaking out about the position remaining an elected position. Both former alderman Brenda Brown, and a few others expressed their concerns once again about keeping the position the same.
“I was at the very first meeting when they started this,” Brown recalled during the public comment section of the meeting. “It was not just the plaintiffs; it was the people, the community of Danville. That’s why I know it’s very important that we leave this position as an elected position.”
Alderman Eve Ludwig expressed they should exercise caution.
“I just think whatever we do, no matter where we go — appoint a treasurer, elect a treasurer; we decide if the people decide whether or not we’re going to appoint or elect a group treasurer — we have to make sure that we’re careful with our logic and make sure that we’re, we’re good with it,” Ludwig said. “But I just want to be clear that I do not support changing the number of wards or aldermen, and I don’t think that most of you all do as well. And I want to make sure that we don’t muddy the water… we’re talking about two completely different things here, so let’s not conflate…”
Leon Parker, corporation counsel for the city, talked about his findings and the moves going forward.
“In reading through the original document filed February 25, 1987, number nine on page five says the court shall retain jurisdiction of this case for the purposes of awarding attorney fees and costs, approving the redistricting plan, and supervising the implementation of this consent decree,” Parker said about the past decision of the Federal Decree in regards to voting. “So that was their jurisdiction in the federal case up till the time it was implemented…The attorney fees have been resolved. The districting plan has been approved, and supervising the implementation of the consent decree has been done long ago.
“I don’t believe the court retains jurisdiction now, but… being a home rule municipality, these matters are dealt with, and I think it would be up to this council to decide if you want to make a change and how you want to make that change.”
Parker said the city has hired counsel from Chicago who specializes in municipality law to help the council move forward with a decision.