The Harvey City Council meeting concluded Monday with the city still lacking an acting mayor.
The City Council voted to approve several items, including a lawsuit settlement and the acceptance of road improvement funds. However, there was no action scheduled on the mayoral vacancy.
Mayor Christopher Clark died Jan. 30, leaving Harvey without a mayor. The City Council was scheduled to select a new acting mayor to serve out the remainder of Clark’s term at a special meeting Feb. 2, but deadlocked between 1st Ward Ald. Shirley Drewenski and 5th Ward Ald. Dominique Randle-El. Each received three votes from the six-member City Council.
Drewenski is mayor pro tempore until an acting mayor is elected.
The selection of an acting clerk and a resolution to update the city’s bank signatories were deferred until an acting mayor is selected.
“I understand that there’s no timeline,” resident Amanda Askew told aldermen Monday. “But I do believe that the sense of urgency needs to happen, like, yesterday, so those people can lock in and do their job properly.”
Drewenski said the mayoral vacancy will be addressed at the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23. Since not everyone who wanted to attend the last meeting was able to fit in the council chambers, Drewenski said, the aldermen are seeking a venue that will accommodate more people.
Drewenski also said residents interested in the city clerk position should submit letters of intent and resumes by Friday, with an interview process to follow.
Clark’s absence was still palpable in the room, as aldermen continued to adjust to meetings without him. Clark was mayor since 2019, and an alderman before that.
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“It has been one week,” Drewenski said. “One week since we found ourselves in this situation.”
Fourth Ward Ald. Tracy Key encouraged the City Council to come together as a team, urging all of the aldermen out of their seats to put their hands together as before a big game.
“All teams need a coach. Shirley — Madame Pro Tem — you are our coach right now,” Key said. “I’m a team player because I care about my city, I came here and I got people counting on me.”
Second Ward Ald. Colby Chapman noted Monday’s meeting was the first time in a long time the City Council had cooperated so well.
“For the first time in a long time, this council voted unanimously across the board,” Chapman said. “That matters. It shows when clarity is provided and processes are respected, we can come together as one body to move the city forward.”
Melville King Jr. asked that some of the strict procedures for City Council meetings that were standard under Clark be discontinued.
“Remove the barriers between this council meeting and us. Tear down that wall,” King said, indicating crowd-control ropes separating the public from the City Council. “We are all equal in this city.”
Clark was well-known for having the police remove people during meetings, including elected officials such as Chapman. Meetings since his death have continued to open with a police statement about the circumstances under which people can be arrested and escorted out.
Among the items approved was a settlement agreement for a lawsuit brought by local activist Ryan Sinwelski over the city’s failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.
The city eventually released the requested records, though after a delay of over a year, according to the settlement agreement. Drewenski attributed the delay to human error, saying the clerk’s office simply overlooked communication from Sinwelski.
“It was an oversight,” Drewenski said.
The city agreed to pay Sinwelski’s legal costs. Chapman expressed concern that such errors could be repeated in the future, and that similar lawsuits could be costly to a city already in a fiscal crisis.
“What guardrails do we have in place to ensure an oversight isn’t costing us $5,500?” Chapman asked. “That same incident could very well happen to another resident.”
Third Ward Ald. Telanee Smith voted against the settlement, accusing Sinwelski of filing frivolous lawsuits.
The council also voted to accept funds to improve two blocks of Broadway Avenue, which runs in front of City Hall.
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The Broadway Avenue project in collaboration with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association and the Illinois Department of Transportation, with tollway credits being used to replace local matching funds.
“There should be no city funds affiliated with this,” Drewenski said.
All the resolutions were on the agenda for the Jan. 26 City Council meeting, which was canceled on short notice. There was a public forum on the Broadway Avenue improvement project scheduled to take place ahead of that meeting, but following the cancellation it never took place.
The council also voted to convey rights of way adjacent to the city’s Metra station to Metra. The resolutions regarding Metra are part of a long-planned improvement project and were originally passed by City Council in 2021, Drewenski said.
The affected roads will be the block of Park Avenue between 153rd Street and 154th Street, and the block of Main Street between 153rd Street and Park Avenue.
“The city will vacate the property so Metra can do their work,” Drewenski said. “And then once it’s completed, the city will resume ownership.”