So I am tickled pink that four citizens stepped up to file as write in candidates for DeKalb City Clerk. Thanks to the Mayor and City Council there were no candidate petitions filed for the City Clerk position. Without a write in candidate the Mayor would have appointed the position for the next four years. That would have been a shame because that’s not what voters wanted.
Now here’s the shocker:
Steve Kapitan must think he meets the minimum standards he set for the stripped down elected City Clerk position he resigned from, semi-officially, for not being able to produce closed meeting minutes in a manner timely enough to comply with the Open Meetings Act. The full official version for his sudden resignation is silenced as a condition of a $10,000 severance pay paid to Kapitan. [BREAKING NEWS] Kapitan breaks vow of silence
The Mayor and Council were evidently so concerned with the amount of taxpayer dollars wasted by Kapitan’s term as City Clerk that they almost immediately gutted the City Clerk department. The City Clerk position itself was reduced to a part time position reducing the annual salary of around $60,ooo plus full benefits to a flat $5,000 cost.
Before Kapitan the department was independent of the City Manager and Council. Kapitan had allowed the full time deputy clerk position to be eliminated from his budget shortly after getting elected and before having gained any knowledge or experience of the job. Had he not allowed that loss of a full time employee he likely wouldn’t have had a problem getting minutes taken. After Kapitan the deputy clerk position was recreated under the City Manager’s budget.
The Mayor and City Council then sought the elimination of an elected clerk altogether and placed a referendum on the November 2012 ballot asking voters if they wanted the City Clerk to be an appointed position under the control of the City Manager. Of the total of 14189 referendum ballots cast 70% voted no thanks.
But the watered-down part time $5,000 position required as many signatures on a City Clerk candidate’s petition as did the candidates for Mayor which pays much better. Some of the aldermen who voted to gut the position and reduce the pay were required to get less than 20 signatures on their petition. Thus no one circulated a petition. Go figure.
The write in candidates:
Liz Cliffe Peerboom was employed as the full time deputy clerk. She finished runner-up to Kapitan in the 2009 elections in a five person race to succeed Donna Johnson as the elected City Clerk. She left to become City Clerk for the Village of Maple Park (part time) where she promptly won a statewide award for “2011 Municipal Rookie of the Year.” Maple Park together with the City of DeKalb, submitted an application recognizing her contributions to the review committee. Peerboom is well qualified for the newly recreated, higher paying with full benefits deputy clerk position and I thought that was where she would end up. But I thought that when Peerboom applied for the appointment by Mayor Kris Povlsen to replace Kapitan due to his sudden resignation. She is hardworking and well versed in the role and responsibilities of a municipal clerk. In that role Peerboom is a consummate “keeper of the public records.”
During discussions on trimming the City Clerk’s position the council heard from citizens about the importance of an elected clerk being a “watch dog” of municipal government. The council didn’t like it. So they put the referendum question on the ballot. If the voters chose to keep the position elected because they wanted a “watch dog” the newly defined elected clerk could do just that.
There’s not a better government “watch dog” in DeKalb than Lynn Fazekas. She’s passionate about open books and public access. She likely tops the list of 4th ward Alderman Brendon Gallagher’s Repeat Offenders for filing FOIA requests. Fazekas championed government transparency before it became politically correct. She publishes City Barbs and is highly regarded on blogs throughout the state for her political commentary. Fazekas would not be under the control of the City Manager as she is often a critic of City Hall. She’s also a great writer with advanced computer skills the City of DeKalb could really use in communicating the business of government to the citizens. Fazekas entered the DeKalb political scene with an unsuccessful bid for Mayor in the 2009 elections.
Leonard LeGrand is introducing himself to the DeKalb political scene. According to this report by the Daily Chronicle LeGrand is employed by NIU and is an aspiring student of local government. One prerequisite for the newly created scaled down version of City Clerk is the ability to moonlight.
Whoever wins the election will make $5,000 annually for the next four years for their work. The City Council determines the salary of the City Clerk and any raise to an elected official cannot take effect until the next term begins. To keep the City of DeKalb from violating the Illinois Minimum Wage law the elected City Clerk would be limited to 12 hours per week. Kapitan is employed at Jewel/Osco and has moonlighted throughout a career in local politics as an alderman and City Clerk. Peerboom is currently the Village of Maple Park municipal clerk which is a part time position. Fazekas is self employed in financial and training services. LeGrand works at NIU.
We’ve learned Kapitan has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and I wish him well in his treatment. But somehow I can’t see voters rewarding his devaluation of the City Clerk position. His severance pay was equal to two years salary of the restructured position. Any argument against the City Clerk as an elected position is moot in the City of DeKalb — by a 70% to 30% margin in a record turnout Presidential election. This is a city with 40,000 people and a four year university.
We can do without party favors this time. No more entitled candidates.
Best wishes to all of the write in candidates in their efforts to restore the position of DeKalb City Clerk to the level of public trust voters deserve.
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21 Comments
Liz, is there another Illinois municipality that has an elected city clerk with a deputy clerk appointed by the city manager? I think what’s being argued here is the city council made changes to the OFFICE of city clerk that may have required referendum — especially since no city clerk was in place to agree/disagree with those changes. The city council sets the pay but the statutes seem pretty clear that the city clerk is in direct control of their staff.
Well, Liz, if I were running for city clerk I ABSOLUTELY would consult an attorney well versed in State Law about this. I’d want to know the extent of my authority as elected city clerk BEFORE any arguments with city staff or its attorney got started. For what its worth, that’s my advice to you and all DeKalb city clerk candidates. Best wishes to all of you.
LIz Thanks for the response and you are touching on the issue. If the Clerks say the deputies should report to the Clerk and the City Manager insists that the deputies report to him will you do more than lobby and take this to the courthouse for a decision. I hope the other candiadtes give their opinion on this issue. The clerks office may be funded by the council but the fact remains that the deputies receive their power from the Clerk and should be reporting to the Clerk
You raise some interesting points, Pevo. I like your Sheriff/County Administrator analogy. The municipal clerk may be even more important in some ways because clerk duties include election authority and FOIA authority. Its very foundational.
Being very curious about from where a municipal clerk derives authority, I did a bit of sleuthing in the Illinois Municipal Code.
The following statute would seem to indicate the city manager has NO authority over deputy clerks unless perhaps the “corporate authorities” have resolved the clerk to be incapacitated. I would therefore suggest the recent DeKalb ordinance gutting the clerk position may be at odds with state statute(s) and at least becomes null and void upon election of a clerk. Depending on how this is handled, there in fact may be a court case here in spite of candidate Peerboom’s statement to the contrary.
Illinois Compiled Statutes 65 ILCS 5 Illinois Municipal Code. Section 3.1-35-95
(b) Except in municipalities with a population of 500,000 or more, the powers and duties of a deputy clerk shall be exercised only in the absence of the clerk from the place where the clerk’s office is maintained, and only when either written direction has been given by the clerk to that deputy to exercise a power or the corporate authorities have determined by resolution that the municipal clerk is temporarily or permanently incapacitated to perform that function.
Notice the deputy clerk must be empowered in writing by the clerk, not city manager. It will be interesting to see how this statute is interpreted by all.
Candidates? What say you?
Mr. Pevo:
I still feel this is not an issue for the courts. The statute is the governing power – if there is no home rule. In Maple Park (which is not home rule), if there was an elected Clerk, the Deputy would be hired by and report to the Clerk, but in DeKalb it is home rule therefore the Council has every right to pass this type of ordinance.
Ms. Peerboom: As former DeKalb deputy clerk and current clerk at Maple Park, can you tell me when or whether the City of DeKalb passed referendum to comply with the following from the Illinois Constitution?
Constitution of the State of Illinois
Article 7
Section 6 (f)
…A home rule municipality shall have the power to provide for its officers, their manner of selection and terms of office only as approved by referendum
or as otherwise authorized by law…
It would seem unless DeKalb has previously created its own specific law on deputy clerks by referendum, it would by default under the Constitutional provision cited above, follow the Illinois Statute I referenced in my earlier post.
A referendum for choosing deputies is not required. Either the Clerk chooses the deputies or the municipality (if home rule) passes an ordinance allowing the case in DeKalb.
Mr. Mellott, what do they do in YOUR municipality (Malta)?
Candidate Peerboom-
It appears you do not read the law in the same way I do.
Are you interpreting the phrase “…or as otherwise authorized by law…” (Illinois Constitution Article 7, Section 6(f)) pertaining to selection of corporate officers in a home rule community, as referring to ordinances passed by the city? If your are, what specific ordinance speaks to the position of deputy clerk? And what referendum passed under Home Rule authority empowers the city to select its corporate authorities, specifically deputy clerk, by some alternate method not cited in the Illinois Municipal Code? Is there such a referendum?
The November 2012 referendum overwhelmingly indicated citizens’ desire to retain an elected clerk. There is no mention of deputy clerk in that referendum, is there? And unless there is referendum direction, then there is no authority for the city to appoint or hire a deputy clerk.
Home Rule entities must still follow Constitutional provisions e.g. Article 7 Section 6(f), and The Illinois Municipal Code by default, unless as a Home Rule community they have previously passed referendum which specifically defines alternative law, in this case, methods for corporate officer selection. To my knowledge, there is no referendum empowering the city with selection or appointment of a city deputy clerk. Therefore, the elected clerk retains that appointment authority under the existing statutes.
Consider the flow of authority…from the people of Illinois, through the state Constitution, to the Illinois Municipal Code, except in case of Home Rule, whereupon the People again empower the Home Rule Entity by specific referendum to make alternate corporate authority selection law by ordinance. So there must first be a referendum which specifically overrides the normal flow of authority for the specific corporate authority, in this case, the deputy city clerk.
It would be illogical and illegal to believe any city could simply pass ordinance to overrule law from the Illinois Constitution except for Home Rule provision in the Constitution which clearly requires a referendum (back to the People) before any alternative law is created.
Clearly, the legislators and writers of the state Constitution intended referendum power as the bar cities must attain to if they do not want to follow “other law”, namely the Illinois Municipal Code.
But if you have knowledge of some such past referendum which allows for DeKalb to appoint a deputy clerk rather than have the elected clerk appoint a deputy, I would appreciate it if you would inform us of that specific referendum and any subsequent ordinance empowering the city rather than the elected clerk to appoint.
Thank you.
There is a difference between a state statute and the state Constitution. Ordinances in Home Rule communities may be made to override statutes in many cases but they cannot override the Constitution except where provided by the Constitution.
The City tried to use the Constitutional method and it lost.
Now whether the City of DeKalb’s current ordinances, post-referendum, fall in line with the Constitution is something I am still studying. Certainly, if there is a question about it we have an obligation to pursue a legal opinion sooner rather than later.
What I HAVE looked at extensively, however, are the local ordinances contained in Chapter Three of the Municipal Code. They say explicitly that the city manager does not have authority over the City Clerk or any other elected position, and that he must “render to them all such assistance as possible” in the performance of their duties.
The code also says that the clerk “shall not be authorized to appoint as a Deputy Clerk any person who is not a then-current employee of the City.” This, along with the statement that “The City shall determine the staffing of the City Clerk’s office,” would comprise the unconstitutional portions of the ordinance if there are any; but so far I’ve approached this from a local, practical point of view from which I ask: is there a sufficient pool of applicants available for the clerk to make a satisfactory selection?
I myself as a manager, having hired many people and fired a few, understand the importance of employing the right people. If the clerk finds no one suitable to deputize — or removes several unsuitable people in a row — what happens then? By ordinance the city manager’s responsibility is to hire more potential deputies, right? Because, if he didn’t, he clearly could and should be removed for cause by the council under the city’s own ordinances.
What a potentially tiring and troublesome role as middleman this could be!
Lynn:
Very well said. The only thing is, I don’t know if I agree that the City Manager should be removed for cause if he doesn’t replace a deputy clerk. For example, if the City Council votes to zero fund the City Clerk’s office, there would be no money to pay the deputies; therefore, the City Manager could not hire more deputies. But, I do agree that it is a potentially tiring and troublesome role as middleman. But, right now, thankfully, it is working the way it is. I would hate for anyone to be in the position that I was put in with no one having my back.
Lynn and Liz-
I spent some time the other day reading through Elmhurst’s city ordinances. They, as DeKalb, are home rule and have a deputy clerk.
The language I found reinforced my view that the state statutes are to be followed even by home rule communities as a default, unless ordinance is written to overrule that state statute, and even then a referendum as outlined in the state constitution must come first, providing the underlying authority to write the ordinance and ignore the default state statutes provided in the Illinois Municipal Code.
So my original question to Liz is still not answered…Where is the DeKalb referendum that allows DeKalb to write an ordinance that allows the city to appoint a deputy clerk as opposed to the clear default position in law charging the elected city clerk with empowering a deputy clerk, and that for a limited and specified time?
I exaggerated the possibilities a bit and look what comes out: legal and other difficulties could embroil both the city manager and the council.
This is a good argument for returning the powers of the city clerk to the city clerk.
Of course, that is what 70% of the voters (including myself) want the city to do.
Another question that I am not sure has been addressed by the Council. With the movement away for Staff to contracted employees I am wondering if the CC followed with any ethics regulations for those that are now contracted to do the work that was previously being handled by staff. I would like to see some sort of ordinance that any firm, employee of the firm, family member of the firm or anyone connected in any way with a firm that contracts their services with the City, file within 24 hours of making any political contribution in any denomination to any candidate for office. I know that the candidates at time have to disclose this information but that often comes after the election. I think those who are replacing employees with their contracted work should have to disclose immediately who they give money to at election time and the voters shoud know this and not have to wait for the candidates to file the reports to get the information ( often not until after the election).
I am wondering if all 4 candidates would like to give their opinion on this issue. If elected would you contest the legality of the City Councils actions in reorganizing the Clerks office. To me the Clerk is a City Contsitutional office and although funded by the council is supposd to be totally separate from the other offices. Imagine at the County level the county Board not liking the Sherrif and zero funding the Sheriiff’s office and transferring all the police powers to the County Executive. Then telling all the deputies they now work for the County Exectutive and not the elected Sherrif. The people of DeKaln voted by 65% that they wanted to retain the Clerk office as a separate elected office. Candidates will you take to city to court and maintain what they did is wrong that that the people’s wishes shoule be upheld. MIght even be a good question for the mayor candidates.
Mr. Pevo – The voters of DeKalb did indeed vote to keep the office of City Clerk an elected office, and it remains an elected office. There would be no reason to take the City of DeKalb to court on this issue. The office remains separate, although the Deputy Clerks report to the City Manager. Because the City of DeKalb is home rule, they have the right to do this. Having said that, I don’t agree that the Deputy Clerks report to the City Manager and I would lobby to change that. However, this is not an issue for the court.
There are so many issues that I would like to respond to, so forgive me if this post is long. Yes, I did work at the City of DeKalb at the same time as the current City Manager. But, no, I would NOT have a problem telling him if I felt that something wasn’t right. I could also stand up to the Mayor – no matter who he or she turns out to be. Although the Clerk does not set policy, the Clerk can give an opinion – and a lot of the Clerk’s education focuses on what is right in certain situations. Integrity is very important in the City Clerk’s office and I believe that it is being restored. Transparency is the reason for the Clerk’s office. While there are some records that must be withheld, most of the municipal records are open to the public. I am a very strong advocate of transparency. Also, while I was Deputy City Clerk, I updated the license applications and put all Clerk’s office applications on the website. If I become the next City Clerk, I plan to improve the City Clerk’s section of the City’s website and have a searchable municipal code on the website. It may have been an overreaction of the Council to lower the salary of the Clerk and have the Deputy Clerks report to the City Manager, but I think that at the time the Council felt it was the right thing to do. It may be a temporary situation. I would hope that eventually it does change back to a full-time Clerk situation. The other candidates may be champions of transparency, but they do not have the Clerk’s education to back them up. I am the only Certified Municipal Clerk out of the four candidates and that did not happen over night.
Thank you for your reasoned response, Liz Peerboom. Working with the information I have/had, I see Lynn Fazekas as the strongest candidate for transparency and independence in dealing with city staff. Following her blog at CityBarbs.com and run for mayor initiated and informed my perspective on her over the last several years. I was unable to find any extensive public record as government critic or watchdog for you. Mark Charvat’s (and others’) positive testimony to your character and ability is a strong statement in your favor. Still, I think Lynn would have an edge in standing up to Mark Biernacki, and that is what we need at this time, I believe. But you and Lynn are both strong candidates. If Lynn wins, I hope you will become more involved in public scrutiny of DeKalb city administration. If you win, I know Lynn will continue the good fight she has begun. I see a better and best choice. Its great to have such an option. Thank You.
I have to go on record and agree with Kerry. I would agree that Lynn would be best for the job. Although I believe Liz is qualified, transparency, independence and keeping government accountable would work in Lynn’s favor. This places her at the top of my list of those seeking this office. I like the watchdog aspect and independence that Lynn has exhibited over the years. Lynn would definitely be able to stand up to Mark Biernacki and a Mayor Groce (YIKES!) Liz is a great person and would be my second choice.
Is there any reason the council at any time could not reverse the ordinance they passed requiring the deputy clerk report to the city manager and rather have that position report to the elected clerk as previously? Then, though it would not take effect until after next election, could they not also restore the previous wage to the elected clerk position and reduce the wage for the deputy clerk? All wages regarding activity in the clerk’s office to be reported under the clerk’s office budget, not city manager’s budget?
I agree with Mac. Lynn Fazekas does a fantastic job at researching government issues and challenging improper policy and actions. She is technically savvy, a big requirement as clerk and not afraid of existing public officials. While she would not be setting policy as clerk, her steadfast desire for transparency and good government would, if she became clerk, further enable others to carry on the watchdog role over city government. That would be very good for the city.
I have not heard anything bad about Liz Peerboom, however, she had been working with the existing not-so-transparent city administration for quite some time previous the last election. In DeKalb’s case, I think having worked with the existing city manager is NOT a good thing. Additionally, I have heard nothing about Liz Peerboom to make me think she is a champion of technology, transparency, or government accountability-all of which are needed in the DeKalb clerk’s office.
Looks to me like Lynn Fazekas is the best qualified of the four candidates.
Someone asked if an elected city clerk is subject to minimum wage law. According to the IL Dept of Labor they are under certain circumstances. Two different counselors, one a supervisor, at the Dept. of Labor 1-800-478-3998, said that an elected city clerk would in fact be subject to minimum wage laws if the job description and duties required them to work hours beyond minimum wage. If the work is voluntary beyond the scope of the job description they would not be as they are elected. An alderman or legislator would likely not be subject to minimum wage UNLESS required to attend meetings that did not pay per diem. I talked with Lawrence who referred me to his supervisor Miriam for confirmation. They will not provide last names for security. Both spent considerable time looking through their sources. Here’s a catch: There is no minimum hours required to work regardless of the pay UNLESS a job description requires it. You could make $150,000 per year as an elected official and work 20 hours a month if voters let you get away with it.
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I know of no municipality that includes the appointment of a deputy clerk in a referendum. But, it seems that you won’t believe me until you ask an attorney. I suggest that you do this.