A Sangamon County judge has dealt a blow to efforts to unseat City Clerk Chuck Redpath from his post, which opponents say he obtained through an illegitimate city council vote.
The longtime Springfield City Council member was appointed clerk Jan. 7 by a divided council after a tumultuous, two-hour meeting amid allegations the process was rushed, unfair and corrupt.
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 when they were tallied, and Redpath was declared appointed under an interpretation of the law made by Corporation Counsel Greg Moredock.
Both Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase and Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano, who cast the present votes, told Illinois Times they never intended for their votes to count toward Redpath’s appointment.
Related
An unclear process
“Under the previous administration, present votes were just considered neutral and did not count with the majority,” Purchase said.
Notariano said she asked Moredock and Redpath to cite when present votes have been handled in this manner previously.
“When I asked corporation counsel and the clerk for a history of votes that were decided using (this) rule, they could not find anything in recent history,” she said.
Shortly after the disputed vote, community activist Calvin Christian sought a court order invalidating Redpath’s appointment.
But on April 11, Circuit Judge Adam Giganti ruled in favor of the city and affirmed that the votes were counted appropriately.
Christian, who is not a lawyer, argued the case himself. Afterwards, he said he was not surprised by the ruling but intends to appeal. In the appeal he will be represented by Springfield attorney William Panichi.
“I reached out to an individual who specializes in parliamentary procedure. I forwarded her all of the information, and she told me that the vote was improper,” Christian said. “He did not get the votes needed in order for him to become city clerk.”
Panichi noted the council has adopted Robert’s Rules of Order, a manual for how meetings are conducted.
“Robert’s Rules of Order is explicit. It doesn’t count present votes,” he said.
Panichi added, “I don’t know why Mr. Redpath would want to have this office under these circumstances. It’s kind of going to be his legacy.”
During court arguments, Moredock cited a northern Illinois municipal case in which a present vote was counted.
“Under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, a present vote is counted with the majority. So, the vote would’ve been proper,” he said.
The city clerk position was vacated Dec. 31 after Frank Lesko resigned to become Sangamon County Recorder.
Lesko’s 31-vote defeat of Josh Langfelder, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 countywide election for recorder triggered Lesko’s eventual resignation as city clerk. However, Lesko temporarily held full-time positions as both city clerk and county recorder until a discovery recount was complete.
In the wake of the resignation, Redpath, who because of term limits could not run for reelection on the city council, sought to be appointed to the $89,685-a-year clerk post.
During the Jan. 7 council meeting, Langfelder was a last-minute nominee for the clerk post and Redpath’s sole challenger. Langfelder was defeated after a vote in which Redpath was allowed to vote for himself.
Related
City Council to consider changes to appointment process
Christian also challenged the legitimacy of this vote, arguing it posed a financial conflict of interest for Redpath to, in effect. vote to give himself a raise. But Moredock argued that there is nothing in state law or the municipal code that prohibits such a vote. The judge agreed.
Moredock cited the 1987 federal consent decree that changed the city to an aldermanic form of government from the commission form. According to the court document, an alderperson is eligible to fill a city clerk vacancy and “may participate in the vote taken to fill the vacancy.”
Redpath, a retired state worker and former police officer, most recently represented Ward 1. He served on the council previously when it was still a commission form of government and later represented Ward 4, for a total of 30 years on the council. He has said that he doesn’t plan to run for election as clerk when his term is up in April 2027.
He told IT after the court hearing, “We knew exactly what the laws were. We followed the consent decree to the letter. And so, I don’t think there were any surprises about how this was going to go.”
Redpath told IT that before the meeting eight members of the City Council promised to vote for him during private conversations.
“I had eight votes, and there was a little maneuvering by some political people who tried to jockey and put in Josh Langfelder. That was defeated. Obviously, (Ward 4 Ald.) Larry Rockford is Josh Langfelder’s brother-in-law and (Ward 3 Ald. Roy) Williams and (Ward 2 Ald. Shawn) Gregory are close friends. I don’t hold anything against them for that. That’s part of the democratic process. But the two who voted present knew that we were following the rules. They were being pressured by political people.”
This article appears in Home and Garden.
