Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
Springfield aldermen on Tuesday narrowly agreed to expedite to an interim inspector general 15 complaints that have sat untouched for months, and then shot down the appointment of a former alderman to the ethics committee that oversees the watchdog post.
The vote was 6-4 on a resolution directing Mayor Jim Langfelder and Corporation Counsel Jim Zerkle to review each complaint and take the appropriate action. Aldermen voted 3-7 against Langfelder’s proposal to appoint former Ward 2 alderman Gail Simpson to serve as the public member of the city’s ethics committee.
“We’re trying to help the administration move these cases along,” said Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, one of the sponsors of the resolution. “You don’t want delays. It messes up the cases.”
The Chicago firm of Hillard Heintze, which served as interim inspector general, began taking complaints about wrongdoing in city government a year ago. Seven of the complaints came during the city’s $79,000 contract with the firm, while the other eight were lodged after the contract expired.
City officials have since been trying to resolve those cases without a detailed picture of their nature, and as disagreements about the makeup of the oversight committee persist. Ward 2 Ald. Herman Senor, Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, Ward 5 Ald. Andrew Proctor and Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe cast votes against the resolution.
Jobe and McMenamin began sparring in the midst of the discussion about the resolution, with McMenamin pointing out the number of meetings Jobe has missed and Jobe countering about the volume of “no” votes McMenamin has cast during his time on the council.
Zerkle, the city’s top attorney, recommended that he and the mayor immediately try to find out the nature of the cases and how much investigative work was done by Hillard Heintze. If the cases are criminal, Langfelder said he would refer them to law enforcement.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 