Elgin council gets heated over proposed rule changes

Elgin City Council members traded barbs and even personal attacks Wednesday night during a discussion about changing procedural rules.

Councilman Toby Shaw sparked the debate with his unsuccessful proposal to revert to old rules allowing a single council member to place items for discussion on the agenda.

The council decided to require agreement by two members about a year ago, after Councilman John Prigge was accused of forcing discussions on topics of his choice without enough explanatory and background materials.

Thanks to the current rule, Councilman Terry Gavin said, council meetings have became more efficient.

Prigge, however, called it "an embarrassing failure," and claimed that, as a result, he has not been able to move forward with 12 ideas that would benefit the city.

"When you bring nothing to the table, in some cases for years, it's easy to condemn other people's thoughts and ideas," he said.

Councilman John Steffen questioned why Prigge wouldn't work with other council members to place his ideas on the agenda. "There are eight other people on this council. You should be talking to them and try to garner their support."

Councilwoman Tish Powell accused Prigge of simply not wanting to share credit for his ideas. That realization, she said, made her change her mind and vote against Shaw's proposal, which was defeated 5-4. Steffen, Gavin, Councilman Rich Dunne and Mayor David Kaptain also voted against the change.

"If we are all here to make ourselves look good," Powell said, "I think we lose sight of what we are here for - which is to serve the community."

Prigge didn't address Powell's claim but said he spends more time working on city business than his colleagues.

Gavin objected to that. "How dare you judge anybody else's efforts and time spent doing our jobs," he said. "You have no idea how many ideas I have floated."

Shaw also unsuccessfully proposed going back to having council members sit at regular tables and not the dais for committee of the whole meetings. The motion was defeated 8-1.

Several council members said that would increase work for staff and create logistical problems, especially when the council views presentations. Prigge pointed out the city spent money - about $23,300 - to build a bulletproof dais that would accommodate all nine council members after the April 2013 election.

Also, council members Prigge and Gavin were the only ones who agreed with Shaw's proposal to stop allowing remote attendance at meetings. Dunne has attended four meetings remotely, while Powell has done so once, after the rule was enacted two years ago.