Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mayor Veto Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mayor vetoes approval of three department head contracts, board may reconsider
Summary
Mayor Annette Zimmerman vetoed three department-head contracts approved by the board at a prior meeting, saying the hires were not made according to Manteno ordinances; the board may place motions to reconsider on the next agenda.
Mayor Annette Zimmerman announced at the Village of Manteno Board of Trustees meeting that she is vetoing the board's approvals of three department-head contracts passed at the board's April 21 meeting.
Zimmerman read a written statement to trustees, saying, "The contracts that were passed by the board at the meeting on April 21 are void. The department heads were not appointed by the mayor according to the terms of the Manteno ordinances related to these respective positions." She told the clerk she was delivering letters for each contract and asked that the board place motions to reconsider the previous approvals on the next meeting agenda.
Why it matters: The veto halts the immediate effect of the three employment agreements and sends the item back to the board for formal reconsideration. Under procedures described at the meeting, the board can move to reconsider the motions that approved the contracts at the next meeting and attempt to override the mayor's veto by subsequent votes.
At the meeting the clerk explained the procedural next steps: if the board moves to reconsider and succeeds, it may then vote to approve the contracts over the mayor's veto. Zimmerman said she plans to review the contracts again and suggested they "should be rewritten because they're not very, they don't explain. They need to have a lawyer write them." The mayor characterized the main concern as a process and appointment authority issue rather than a prediction about final hiring.
The mayor and several trustees earlier said the contracts had generated concern among newly elected board members because they were presented on short notice. Trustee and public comments at the meeting repeatedly raised transparency and review-time concerns for board business.
What comes next: The mayor asked that the motions to reconsider the contract approvals be placed on the next meeting agenda. If the board places and passes a motion to reconsider, it could then vote to override the veto and re-approve the contracts. The meeting record notes the mayor invoked "by statute" when describing timing; the transcript did not specify which statute.
No contract sums, titles, or other individual terms were read into the public record at this meeting; the mayor said each contract had a letter attached but did not read financial details. The full contracts and attached letters were handed to the village clerk at the meeting and will be available for trustees to review in advance of any reconsideration motion.
