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Mayor appoints Benford and Brown as temporary city auditor after council fails to approve firm
Summary
Calumet City Mayor used mayoral appointment power to name Benford and Brown as the city auditor for a 30-day term after a council motion to approve the firm received no second; the council also moved the firm's $12,500 payment off the current bill list for consideration at a future meeting.
The Calumet City mayor announced a 30-day appointment of auditing firm Benford and Brown as the city auditor after a council motion to approve the firm failed to receive a second.
The temporary appointment matters because the auditor works directly with the city treasurer and the finance director on public accounting and grant reporting; the mayor said the firm will assist with grant work the city has received in recent years.
At the council meeting the mayor said, “Under the appointment powers of the mayor, I’m hereby appointing Benford and Brown for 30 days to be the auditor in Calumet City.” Earlier in the discussion the mayor described the firm as one of the few Black-owned female accounting firms in Illinois and said the firm would work with the city’s finance director and treasurer on grant management. The mayor also said the city has received approximately $126,000,000 in grants over the past four years.
A motion to approve Benford and Brown as the city auditor was made by Alderman Williams but received no second and therefore failed to pass. The council then considered the mayor’s authority to make a short-term appointment; the mayor exercised that authority to appoint the firm for a 30-day term.
Council members later amended the bill list to remove a $12,500 payment to Benford and Brown so that payment would appear on the next meeting’s agenda. The removal was moved and later seconded; the amendment was adopted and the bill list was approved as amended. The council then approved the rest of the listed financial items by roll call.
Discussion vs. formal action in the meeting: the council did not vote to approve Benford and Brown as a permanent auditor (the motion to approve died for lack of a second). The mayor’s 30-day appointment is an executive action made under the mayor’s appointment authority as described at the meeting. The $12,500 payment for the firm was removed from the current bill list and deferred to the next meeting for council consideration.
What remains open: the council did not take a recorded roll-call vote approving Benford and Brown as the permanent auditor during the meeting; the payment to the firm was deferred and will reappear on a future agenda for a council vote. The mayor indicated the firm would work with the treasurer and finance director on existing and future grant work.
