Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
The Springfield City Council will consider a new proposal to speed up the investigation of 15 complaints of wrongdoing in city government. The resolution, which will be up for discussion at a committee meeting later this month, recommends that Mayor Jim Langfelder’s administration review the complaints and take action, which could mean discipline or referral to an outside agency.
Redpath and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin are co-sponsoring the resolution to deal with the 15 complaints of wrongdoing that the interim inspector general, Chicago-based firm Hillard Heintze LLC, fielded calls about.
At an ethics committee meeting last month, the mayor and the five aldermen who have been serving on the committee heard some of the details of the complaints behind closed doors. Meanwhile, the city council is slated to vote next week on a proposal to broaden the ethics committee to include all 10 aldermen, Langfelder and a member of the public.
The city council voted late last year to institute the inspector general position with an ethics committee for oversight. Aldermen approved a $79,000 contract with Hillard Heintze to serve as interim inspector general. But a permanent inspector general wasn’t funded in this fiscal year’s budget.
And differences of opinion among aldermen persist about whether a permanent watchdog position should be contracted out or handled internally. The previous city council debated at length how independent an inspector general can and should be and whether it should be a full-time post.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 