Mayor’s veto sends alley issue back to Belvidere City Council

By Bob Balgemann

Reporter

In all, the April 2 meeting of the Belvidere City Council lasted 18 minutes.

A few of those minutes were taken by Mayor Mike Chamberlain as he vetoed an ordinance, approved by council at its March 19 meeting, to improve the entire length of an alley between East 8th and 9th streets, with pavement, at a cost of $12,000.

It was a 7-2 vote with support coming from aldermen Michael Borowicz, Ron Brooks, George Crawford, Marsha Freeman, Tom Porter, Mark Sanderson and Clayton Stevens. Dissenting were aldermen Wendy Frank and Tom Ratcliffe.

The mayor issued the following statement on April 2:

“The motion ‘to improve the alley between E. 8th Street and E. 9th Street from end to end with pavement,’ which was passed by a 7-2 vote on Monday, March 19th, 2018, is hereby disapproved and returned to city council.

“Various previous actions to vacate or improve this alley failed, either by city council vote, or mayoral veto. Furthermore, in a budget year that contemplated no funding available for capital projects, the expenditure for this project is not available.

“Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this action by the city council is that the action was brought forward by an alderman, who personally benefits from the approval of the action, and, in fact, is the only entity that will derive substantial benefit from the action.”

After reading that statement, he added, “This will come back to city council in two weeks (April 16) for additional conversation.” With that he moved on to the next agenda item without any comments from council.

The meeting packet contained a memorandum from City Attorney Mike Drella that outlined procedures relating to a veto, which is allowed under a section of the Illinois Municipal Code.

“With regard to the issue of improving the alley between East 8th Street and East 9th Street, the veto would need to be delivered at the April 2, 2018, city council meeting,” he stated in the memo.”

He stated further that if the mayor chose to veto the alley motion, which was done, the matter would lie over to the April 16 meeting. At that time, council would reconsider…

For complete article, pick up the April 18 Belvidere Daily Republican.