It’s no secret that district council representatives are given a lot of deference on “district specific business” already. Most of the council votes in lock step with the district councilman and are happy to defer items for no other reason than the district council person requested it.
Now Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis wants to take it a step further. He sent this e-mail to council members on Thursday, May 6:
In an effort to insure that agenda items are ready for council debate I have asked the Manager to put a sign-off line on council communications for district council-members to approve district specific agenda items before they are placed on the agenda. This will not only insure that the district member is ready for the item to come forward it should also minimize deferrals because they are, in fact, ready for council consideration.
Thanks in advance to District Members for assuring your district specific business is approved by you for placement on the agenda.
That means that an item will not even be put on the agenda unless the district representative approves it. To state it another way, under this system, items can be kept off the agenda by the will of a single city council representative. For instance, if Clyde Gulley didn’t want the Washington Street/Route 24 changes to come before the council, he could decline to sign off on this district-specific item, which would keep it off the agenda in perpetuity — even if all the other council members wanted to move forward on it.
The Mayor’s directive gives a special privilege to district council representatives, allowing them to dictate the will of the council on items impacting their districts. But where does the Mayor get the power to make such a directive? The City’s Municipal Code and Council Rules don’t confer this authority on the Mayor, nor does any ordinance preclude any council member from submitting an item for the agenda.
Section 2-31 of the municipal code states, “All reports, communications, ordinances, resolutions, contract documents or other matters to be submitted to the council shall, not later than 10:00 a.m. on Friday preceding each council meeting, be delivered to the city clerk, whereupon the city clerk shall immediately arrange a list of such matters according to the order of business and furnish each member of the council, the mayor, the city manager and the corporation counsel with a copy of the same prior to the council meeting and as far in advance of the meeting as time for preparation will permit.” Nothing in there requires the proposed agenda item go through the Mayor or the district council representative. It merely has to be delivered to the city clerk.
It would appear that the Mayor cannot make such changes without a majority vote of the council… unless, of course, the council voluntarily consents to the Mayor’s missive, abdicating their responsibility to represent all of Peoria, not just their own fiefdoms.
The more I observe how things in this city operate, the more I think it might be time to pull up stakes and get out of Dodge.
This is all well n good if you share the same viewpoints as your district representative. If you don’t you, you are doubly screwed even more than before.
This is bad… very bad.
Kind of makes you wonder what is coming don’t it?
Wonderful. They only way you can get something done around here is through the at larges as unless it relates to the W. Bluff in the 2nd, it doesn’t matter.
Anyone else worried about the fact that we have a Mayor who doesn’t understand when to use the word ‘ensure’ instead of ‘insure’?
Why wouldn’t you just get an at-large councilman to sign off on your concern if your district representative isn’t willing to? I find it hard to believe that they would refuse to bring something before the council if an at-large councilman brought it to the table…
Am I missing something? This does not seem like that big of a problem.
John Green , BRILLIANT !!
will someone run against this guy and get him out. this is scary that so much power is being given to a district rep.
Plausible deniability; good positioning for the coming elections. You have to remember, we elect statesmen, we often end up with politicians.
I’ll bet the mayor didn’t even think about this aspect. Thanks CJ
Observation,
yes, some of the districts get very territorial, We were issuing day passes allowing district people to come into our neighborhood as they were receiving so much grief for setting foot in an area where our own rep won’t travel. It became a running joke. as far as the Mayor. I have found him to be very helpful when we have needed anything.
I meant allowing at large reps in….sorry, four things at once…
CJ if Gary Sandberg keeps forwarding to you e-mails sent to him by the Mayor the Mayor might just *accidentally* type an incorrect e-mail addy for Sandberg next time he sends out a groups e-mail.
OFFTOPIC OFFTOPIC (sort of)
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1381043871/Its-official-Bass-Pro-Shops-coming-to-East-Peoria
East Peoria gets a riverfront museum first… WHAT A SURPRISE!!!!
Peoria sucks.
The mayor embarrasses Peoria on a regular basis with his incorrect use of language. However, it is his authoritarian streak that is really worrying. His recent directive is just plain wrong and illegal.
The commenter above who threatened that the mayor might “accidentally” type an incorrect email address for Gary Sandberg proves the secretive, manipulative, my way or the highway attitude of Jim Ardis.
Angela surely you don’t suggest that the Mayor will now be held responsible for every anonymous comment made on a blog?
And I think you should edit your comment above to reflect the truth. The Mayor embarrasses YOU. Don’t impart how YOU feel on the rest of us because he most certainly does not embarrass me. I think he is sincerely trying his hardest to make the right decisions in a tough set of economic circumstances. What have you done lately to improve your community?
Agree just a thought. Mayor Ardis is working hard to make this a better city. Angela doesn’t need to speak for me either.