Round Lake rejects code of conduct for village meetings
August 8, 2008
BY ALEC JUNGE | Special to the News-Sun
ROUND LAKE — With months of acrimony between the mayor, trustees and some staff, the Village Board has rejected an attempt by Mayor Bill Gentes to revise the village code of conduct policy.
In the past six months, trustees have yelled at each during village meetings, and village officials have been heard to be shouting at each other in closed sessions.
The plan called for self-policing by the board members, a move Trustee Robert Del Prato called unnecessary because trustees have sworn an oath as public officials to serve the laws of the state of Illinois.
Only two of the six trustees supported the policy at Monday’s Village Board meeting. Others argued the policy was unnecessary, and one suggested it might be unconstitutional. Those in favor, including Gentes, felt the measure was necessary to bring more professionalism to the board.
“It was an attempt to make trustees more reasonable,” Gentes said.
“This is nothing more than it feels good to do,” said Del Prato. “It abridges your ability for free speech.”
“You treat people with respect and courtesy,” said Trustee Sherry Perkowitz, “and not try to blind side them with questions they don’t have a chance to respond to.”
She added that staff are professionals and deserved to be treated as such and not as “servants.” Staff should be given phone calls or communications by trustees so they have time to research an issue in time for Village Board meetings.
Among the potential targets of the new code is Del Prato, who, on several occasions, has peppered village staff with questions during the meeting.
Del Prato took the opposite view. He felt staff knows what is on the agenda and should be prepared to answer questions from trustees who have the responsibility to ensure that the public is protected from unnecessary spending.
“If they are not prepared, they are not doing their job,” he said.
Trustee Dale Multerer said he felt the code needed updating because people are “showing a lack of respect.”
Trustee Brian Brubaker lamented the infighting between trustees and the mayor and suggested all of them “would be fired” for their lack of professionalism if they served on a private board.
