The decision to pay the law firm of Husch & Eppenberger another $80,000 was arguably the lead story coming out of this week’s Springfield City Council meeting. But the vote itself had all the sizzle of cottage cheese.
“Anybody want to make a political statement?” the mayor asked as aldermen voted. Aside from an emphatic “no” from one alderman, the rest were silent.
After all, what could anybody say that hadn’t already been said? The firm, hired by former mayor Karen Hasara, had done what it was hired to do. The notion that it could conduct a credible investigation of possible racism in the Springfield Police Department within a matter of weeks on a budget of $15,000 seemed far-fetched from the get-go. The fact that Husch’s work took seven months and cost more than $180,000 also shocked the alderman. The idea of putting the entire experience into cold storage for only $130,000 total (the city had already paid $50,000) sounded like a bargain. The ordinance passed on a 7-3 vote, with only Ward 1 Alderman Frank Edwards, Ward 2 Alderman Frank McNeil, and Ward 7 Alderwoman Judy Yeager voting against the payment.
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A lot of people think city officials get special treatment, especially officials as high ranking as Todd Renfrow. The former chair of the Democratic Party’s county organization, Renfrow played a major role in Mayor Tim Davlin’s campaign. Now as general manager of City Water, Light and Power, he controls the majority of city jobs. In other words, the guy’s got juice.
But even juice didn’t save Renfrow from getting a citation for a little incident he was involved in right in front of city hall.
It happened Dec. 15 at 3:30 p.m. Renfrow drove up to Municipal Center East intending to run in and retrieve some paperwork. Instead of parking in the city garage as he usually does, he pulled into a parking spot on the street. When he opened his car door to get out, the door collided with a passing van.
After a brief conversation, the driver of the van drove away. Renfrow got a ticket for “unsafe opening of vehicle doors.”
According to the accident report, Renfrow told police his car door was hit by a blue or gray older van driven by a woman in her 30s who asked if he was going to call police. Renfrow didn’t get the van’s license plate number.
“I think she probably didn’t have insurance,” Renfrow says. “She kept saying, ‘It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!’ And I’m not putting the blame on her. It’s a neutral thing. Either one of us could have avoided it. I probably could have looked a little better, and she probably was coming a little too fast.”
Renfrow estimates the damage to his city-owned white 2003 Ford Taurus was approximately $1,000. The ticket was dismissed.
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Last week, Illinois Times reported that a special meeting of the City Council was scheduled for the evening of Feb. 19, which just happened to be the exact time Edwards has scheduled a fundraiser. The purpose of the council meeting would be to vote on Mayor Tim Davlin’s proposed budget. Edwards, an outspoken critic of the mayor, has proposed amendments that would significantly change the budget. In our story [see “Putting the “Coin” in coincidence,” Jan. 29], we quoted Edwards’ dismayed reaction that his request to have the meeting any night but that night had been ignored, as well as his pledge to skip his own fundraiser in order to vote on the budget.
Our report was based on information provided by City Council Coordinator Joe Davis, who said he had scheduled a series of budget meetings after consulting with Davlin and McNeil, chairman of the council’s finance committee. Davis later claimed he had said these dates were “tentative.”
Within hours of our paper hitting the streets, Edwards says, he received a telephone call from “a high-ranking official in the mayor’s office” saying the meeting had been moved to Feb. 18. And sure enough, at 10:45 a.m., communications director Ernie Slottag issued a press release announcing the budget meetings, including the big vote scheduled on Feb. 18.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2004.
