Evanston’s Rules Committee, consisting of all nine councilmembers and Mayor Daniel Biss, again considered the procedure for selecting an acting mayor Monday. The process rose in relevance earlier this year after Biss launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in May.
At the meeting, however, changes to the draft language stalled out into procedural uncertainty.
The committee last voted 5-4 in favor of requiring a two-thirds supermajority to select an acting mayor during its June 2 meeting. At the time, Alds. Clare Kelly (1st), Krissie Harris (2nd), Tom Suffredin (6th), Parielle Davis (7th) and Matt Rodgers (8th) supported the motion. Biss was joined by Alds. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th), Bobby Burns (5th) and Juan Geracaris (9th) in opposition. Ald. Shawn Iles (3rd) was absent from the June meeting.
Asked about legality of the two-thirds requirement, city staff assured the committee that state law does not prevent the standard. However, City Manager Luke Stowe pointed out that adopting such a policy would make Evanston an outlier from other communities.
Iles pushed back against the need for a supermajority on Monday, motioning to require only a simple majority.
“If there is a vacancy in the seat of mayor, I think it is really important in a period of transition to have a solid plan for continuity of government,” Nieuwsma said in support of the draft reversal.
Davis argued that a two-thirds threshold protects “the interest of democracy.” She pointed to councilmembers who had been appointed to their roles and won reelection in following terms.
Both Alds. Harris and Geracaris were reelected in 2023 after being appointed to the council by Biss the year before.
“It’s a very sticky situation to be appointed or to hold a position temporarily,” Davis said. “And it, to some degree, guarantees who will end up, possibly, with a huge advantage in the subsequent election.”
Rodgers, Suffredin and Kelly reinforced their commitment to the supermajority requirement, saying they would mirror their previous votes.
In a jab at Biss, Suffredin called the committee’s situation “unfortunate.”
“We’re here because of a self-interested choice by someone who chose to run for mayor,” Suffredin said.
Nieuwsma, on the other hand, argued that while a vote for acting mayor “may or may not happen in a year and a half,” the rules set by the committee will “outlive” the terms of current councilmembers.
The bloc against the supermajority also echoed consistency with their June votes, with one exception. Harris, who initially voted in favor of the two-thirds standard four months ago, seconded the motion to revert to a simple majority.
At the time of the initial vote, she didn’t understand the ramifications, Harris said while explaining her reversal.
Harris’ switch seemed to set the committee up to revert to a simple majority requirement. However, conversation frequently flickered from debate to procedural uncertainty over Iles’ motion, a concern originally raised by Davis.
Since the committee had already voted on the change in June, she said, a vote would be considered a motion to reconsider. A motion to reconsider would need to be brought up at the same meeting as the initial vote.
After lengthy discussion and queries to the city’s legal staff, the council failed to reach a consensus on whether city rules permit revisiting a vote on changes to a draft procedure.
Davis suggested delaying the vote until city staff could make a stronger recommendation. The motion to table discussion until the committee’s next meeting passed 9-1, with only Iles voting against.
The committee will reignite discussion at its next meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
Email: h.webster@dailynorthwestern.com
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