Carpentersville board wants to curtail president

Now that Carpentersville's legal counsel has said the power to remove an elected official rests with the village board, trustees want to revisit a proposed law that would curtail the village president's attempts to remove a trustee.

A new proposed ordinance would prohibit village President Bill Sarto from using village resources or initiating proceedings to eject Trustee Paul Humpfer from the village board.

Language in the measure would also bar any board member from discussing the trustee's position further and states that Humpfer lawfully retains his trustee seat.

"As we found out, it is the board's decision to determine a vacancy and it is the board's decision to fill the vacancy," said Trustee Judy Sigwalt, the measure's sponsor. "Sarto cannot make that decision alone. We need an ordinance to make him cease and desist from interfering with village business. If he does, then he is breaking the law."

Earlier this week, Carpentersville Village Attorney James Rhodes issued a legal opinion stating that "the authority to determine whether the facts exist that would create a vacancy in that position rests with the corporate authorities of the village and not with the village president alone."

Given the attorney's correspondence, Trustee Keith Hinz said the ordinance should end the futility.

"I support it because I think we need to get past the point of spending resources on trying to do something that is not going to produce viable outcome," Hinz said. "It is the attorney's opinion that Sarto cannot oust Paul Humpfer, so the measure needs to be brought back and voted on."

On several occasions Sarto has declared Humpfer's seat vacant, claiming the trustee's domestic battery conviction and residency issues disqualify him from retaining his trustee position.

A Kane County judge in March found Humpfer guilty of misdemeanor domestic battery during a dispute at the couple's home last May.

Humpfer has acknowledged that he is staying with his parents in Indiana but said he intends to return to Carpentersville once legal issues are resolved.

At two consecutive board meetings after the verdict, Sarto introduced a resolution declaring the vacancy.

But the measure twice failed.

Sarto, who did not return calls for comment Wednesday, has also asked the Kane County state's attorney and the state attorney general to step in and depose Humpfer.

Neither office has rendered a decision on the matter.

That request led to a proposal prohibiting Sarto from acting on behalf of the village board or spending village resources without prior board approval.

The resolution was tabled on March 18. Trustees said they would wait for a legal decision from the state's attorney or attorney general.

But since Sarto refuses to wait for judgment from either authority, Trustee Kay Teeter said the board must step in, this time with an ordinance.

"He needs to stop so that the village can be directed appropriately," Teeter said. "We have to put a stop to this so that Sarto cannot spend time or money or village resources on this."

Between May 2005 and January of this year, the village has spent more than $20,000 in legal costs brought about by contentious in-house issues like the proposed illegal immigration ordinance, possible violations of the open-meetings act and the attempted removal of a trustee.

The issue postponed this week's meeting of the audit and finance commission, which Humpfer chairs.

Four resident members of that seven-person panel refused to attend commission meetings until the uncertainty regarding Humpfer's position is clarified.

At least one member said he would not attend future finance commission meetings as long as Humpfer remained chairman.