Silvis City Council narrowly passes ‘Vote of No Confidence” in Mayor

SILVIS, Ill. (KWQC) - In a narrow 4 to 3 vote the Silvis City Council passed a vote of no confidence in Mayor Matt Carter at a special city council meeting, Tuesday night.

The city council chambers were packed with residents, many of who spoke in favor of the mayor. Leading up to the vote were technically 4 different meetings: a special city council meeting, a regular city council meeting, a committee of the whole, and a second special meeting.

Mayor Carter, the city council and City Administrator Nevada Lemke have been at odds over alleged Illinois Open Meetings Act violations and the appointment of the Interim City Attorney.

Aldermen Josh Dyer, Rick Lohse and Tony Trulson called both special meetings.

During the first special meeting, the council planned to discuss retaining its own attorney and the role of the city attorney.

At the start of that meeting, Carter read a statement in which he said he would not participate and walked away as he believed it was a violation of the Open Meetings Act. He said the 48 hours notice was not properly posted for the meeting.

The alderman who called it then agreed to push the meeting to Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

After the regular city council business, the same aldermen called a second meeting to hold a ‘Vote of No Confidence’ in Carter.

The council and Lemke claim the mayor fostered a “toxic” work environment.

Mayor Carter alleges communication between him, the council and Lemke broke down.

This led to a handful of meetings with city council members that the mayor said were improperly conducted.

In one of those meetings, a letter to mayor carter was drafted asking for his resignation, and all 8 alderpeople signed it.

Another issue leading to Tuesday’s vote comes out of the city attorney’s office.

Last week Nick Mason resigned from the position, leading the mayor to appoint the law firm Ancel Glink as the city’s attorneys and later firing the city’s labor attorney for alleged overreach.

The group of aldermen calling the meeting said this appointment is a conflict of interest as they allege the firm has acted on the mayor’s behalf in the past.

The city council plans to move forward in seeking legislative counsel.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s attorney is still considering the next steps in regard to those alleged Open Meetings Act violations.

Copyright 2023 KWQC. All rights reserved.