Troup goes 0-2; rental registration defeated and police/fire chief resolution tabled “indefinitely”

QUINCY — Monday night’s meeting of the Quincy City Council had most of those who left the chambers shaking their heads.

No one was quite sure exactly what happened.

While Mayor Mike Troup’s proposed rental registration ordinance went down in flames on a 9-5 vote, the status of the proposed ordinance to give the mayor more of a say in the selection of the police and fire chiefs was a little less clear.

The ordinance took aldermen, members of the police and fire commission and the police and fire chiefs all by surprise when it was proposed. It never gained traction with those involved or with members of the public.

Troup said he had spent the last three weeks talking to those involved, laying out a new proposal.

“I met with the fire department, which included the chief, deputy chiefs and union representatives,” he said. “On Thursday, I met with the police department and the police chief, two deputies, and two people from the union. Thursday afternoon, I met with more aldermen Friday and another alderman on Sunday. I met with police and fire commissioners earlier today with the intent of getting all their input, questions, and then having a discussion with revising the steps in this proposed ordinance to clarify.

“What we’ve got here now is a proposed eight-step process that will outline each step of the way, which includes the fire and police commissioners reviewing candidates up front. A thorough search committee would include five people — the mayor, two aldermen, one from either party, one member from the Fire and Police Commission and the fifth person would be an at large member from the community. Those five would do the final interviews. They would then select their candidate, that would be presented to the full council and the full council would make any approval before and offer is granted to the candidate. Once the candidate accepts the offer within the terms of the city council approval, we would make a public announcement as to who that candidate is.”

After laying out his plan, however, Troup proposed to table the ordinance for the second time. Aldermen defeated the motion to table by an 8-6 vote. Alderman Greg Fletcher (R-1) took a long pause before casting the deciding vote to defeat the motion to table.

Along with Fletcher, Aldermen Entrup, Bergman, Bauer, Mays, Freiburg, Reis and Awerkamp voted to not table the resolution.

Alderman Richie Reis (D-6) then called for the question, which meant for an immediate vote with the rejection of the table.

However, the rules were suspended to allow for the public speakers to have their say on the ordinance. Barry Cheyne, chairman of the Police and Fire Commission, and former Quincy City Attorney Tony Cameron both spoke in opposition of the ordinance. Cheyne said Troup’s appearance at Monday morning’s Police and Fire Commission meeting was the first time he had addressed commissioners since this topic came up.

The meeting rules then were resumed, and City Clerk Laura Oakman attempted to move to the next item on the agenda before Reis asked about his motion.

Troup said, “It failed. Died for lack of a second.”

Reis said he had a second. The entire dais was confused. In listening to a recording of the meeting, it’s unclear if there actually was a second because there was movement after the call for the question to hear the speakers.

In what turned out to be some sort of unofficial compromise that didn’t exactly follow Robert’s Rules of Order, Alderman Eric Entrup (R-1) proposed to table the ordinance indefinitely. That passed by a 12-1-1 vote, with Jack Holtschlag (D-7) opposing and Mike Farha (R-4) voting present.

Corporation Counsel Lonnie Dunn said Reis’s motion died for lack of a second, and the indefinite table was the course of action aldermen chose.

Informally among aldermen after the meeting was that this ordinance won’t be coming off the table for quite some time.

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The other ordinance with the most attention was to establish a rental registration ordinance for landlords. This topic went through several committee meetings and many alterations. However, there was minimal discussion Monday, and the ordinance failed by a 9-5 vote.

Aldermen Mast, Reis, Awerkamp, Uzelac and Holtschlag voted for the rental registration ordinance.

Troup was disappointed following the meeting.

“This would have given the city more tools to help protect property,” Troup said. “The city cannot continue to fund $200,000 a year just to destroy homes (referring to the city’s Fix or Flatten program). We just can’t do that. Our money is better spent on other things to benefit the city than tearing down a house.”