The Springfield City Council approved a contract worth up to $25,000 for Scott Hanauer, brother of Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer, at its Jan. 6 meeting. It serves as an extension of a professional service agreement with the Office of Public Utilities that originally took effect in October 2024.
Scott Hanauer retired from City, Water Light and Power’s Energy Services Office in January 2022 after more than three decades with the city. In 2024, he began working for CWLP on a contract basis to provide solar customers and energy auditors with help on solar panel applications and installations, along with other technical assistance. The latest ordinance contracts Hanauer for an additional 500 hours of work at $50 per hour, meaning the total value of his contract with the city since retiring is at $50,000.
Gregory Moredock, the city’s legal counsel, told Illinois Times that Ralph Hanauer voting present on the ordinance related to his brother’s contract falls in line with the general trend of how council members vote on ordinances that potentially present a conflict of interest. He also clarified that there are two kinds of conflicts of interest, common law and perceived.
“A contract directly with one of the alderpersons or the mayor,” Moredock said, “would involve a direct conflict of interest and any participation in that actually could be considered a crime, so that’s something that would be evaluated. We don’t have that here, or at least that’s not what was presented.”
Amber Sabin, CWLP’s communications director, told IT in an email that the Energy Services Office has undergone more turnover than expected in recent years, leading to the contract with Scott Hanauer, who “brings a lot of knowledge and experience to the office.
“This office has also taken on facilitating the permits for interconnection of private solar installations, and this is why we have a former employee on contract. This employee can also help with training staff and new hires as we’ve had a lot of turnover in this office in the auditor positions and also in the manager position,” she wrote.
Moredock explained the alternative voting options council members have when presented with issues that may appear to be a conflict of interest. For example, he said it is “pretty typical” for council members who work for state agencies to vote present when ordinances relate to relevant agencies.
“Then you have a recusal, which is a stronger form (of vote) where they’re indicating that they believe, or could believe, that they have a conflict of interest and for that reason they’re not going to participate at all,” he said.
Ralph Hanauer told Illinois Times the ordinance was not a conflict of interest.
“We don’t have a financial conflict of interest; I guess people could perceive it as not totally kosher,” Ralph Hanauer said, but “because I did not have a financial conflict of interest, I voted present.”
He noted that other council members have voted on ordinances that would benefit family members, such as the city providing funding for Juneteenth, Inc., which was founded by Shymeka Kerr-Gregory. She is related by marriage to Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory. The city has also provided funding for One in a Million, a nonprofit run by Mike Williams, brother of Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams.
“We’ve had other aldermen voting on ordinances giving money to their brother’s and sister’s organizations, and I just don’t think we should be voting on those,” Ralph Hanauer said. “But I don’t think there’s any improprieties from any aldermen on this stuff. I think people can look at anything and try to draw up conclusions that there’s improprieties.”
The City Council had several conflict-of-interest situations last year, most recently with Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase, who is a landlord, recusing herself from an ordinance that would have created a nonbinding public referendum as to whether Springfield should create a landlord registry. By recusing herself rather than voting “present,” the ordinance failed despite a 5-4 vote in favor of it.
The City Council also enacted a new rule barring members from voting, or even discussing, tax increment financing requests for TIF districts where they own property. Purchase said she was surprised by Moredock’s advice, since she had previously voted on projects in the downtown and Enos Park TIF districts.
And in January 2025, former Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath voted for himself when the council appointed a new City Clerk and has since held the position, despite legal challenges. The vote for Redpath was 5-3, with two alderpersons voting “present.” While six votes are needed to make an appointment, the two present votes were added to the “yes” column. Both Purchase and Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano, who cast the present votes, later told Illinois Times they never intended for their votes to count toward Redpath’s appointment.
Moredock said he only gives strict advice when there is a common law conflict of interest, otherwise it is up to individual council members to vote at their own discretion.
“I have advised on conflicts of interest,” he said. “When it comes to an appearance of a conflict, that’s their decision. Clients can always ignore my advice, so the best I can do is give them advice, but I can’t be up there stopping somebody from voting.”
This article appears in January 15-21, 2026.
