[CPRB] CPRB questions from Brandon Bowersox for discussion

[jwalling at uiuc.edu]

Hi Everyone,

So I talked to Brandon Bowersox, City Council Candidate for 
Ward 4 tonight and he brought up a couple of very good 
questions.  I'm copying Brandon on this as well.

The first question that needs more research was... Could the 
duties that we'd give the Police Review Board simply be given 
to the Human Rights Commission so that a new board wouldn't 
need to be created?  I'm not sure if I can answer that 
question, so I'm going to e-mail Cope Cumpston, but if anyone 
has any insight on this suggestion, I'd appreciate it.  I'm 
not sure how I feel about this yet; I'd, of course, like to 
see a separate board, especially if the human rights 
commission is overwhelmed as is, but I don't know much about 
the human rights commission.

Second, I asked a question in the survey about whether the 
candidate supports that the board "is selected from a pool of 
applicants chosen by the city council members in order for 
the board to reflect the political makeup of the city?"

Brandon wondered if that was even possible because the mayor 
does all of the appointments.  

I looked up the relevant language in the Illinois Municipal 
Code and I see two ways in which a council selected board 
might be accomplished.  The code, copied below, allows that a 
candidate must satisfy qualifications provided by the city 
council.

In our model ordinance, we suggested that each council member 
select three applicants from his or her ward and then the 
mayor would pick one.  It seems to me that if the council 
could require the qualification that the mayor select an 
applicant from each ward or an applicant from a pool of 
applicants chosen by the council members that those 
qualifications would satisfy the statute.

But, hey, I'm no lawyer!  Just a law student.  :)

Here's the code.

(2) To appoint and remove his administrative assistants, 
budget and finance director, heads of all departments, and to 
appoint and remove all other officers of the municipality, 
commissions, boards and agencies, except those covered by the 
civil service act in municipalities which have adopted said 
act and except as provided in Section 6-4-14 [65 ILCS 5/6-4-
14]. No appointment shall be made upon any basis other than 
that of merit and fitness and in compliance with provisions 
of this act and with qualifications established by the city 
council.

65 ILCS 5/6-4-7



If anyone has any other insights, please share.

Thanks so much!

-Jen Walling