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Lincoln Heights councilors question adding Mayor Key as bank signer amid spouse’s finance role
Summary
Councilors debated several consent resolutions to update bank signers after turnover and raised a conflict-of-interest concern because Mayor Tanya Key’s husband is the village finance director; the mayor said she will recuse herself in conflict situations and agreed to remove the items from consent for further committee review.
Councilors at the Village of Lincoln Heights’ committee of the whole on Jan. 12 reviewed routine resolutions to update bank signatories after recent turnover and flagged a potential conflict of interest involving Mayor Tanya Key.
The consent agenda included a group of resolutions (R-2026-R6 through R-2026-R13) that remove former officials and add new signers for First National Bank and First Financial Bank accounts, including two resolutions (R-2026-R10 and R-2026-R12) that would add Mayor Tanya Key as a signer for the general fund and mayor’s court accounts.
One council member (speaker 3) objected, saying Key’s husband serves as the village finance director and that adding the mayor as a signer creates the appearance of a conflict of interest. The councilor asked whether the mayor planned to cede signer authority to the vice mayor.
Mayor Key responded that she does not intend to sign checks in situations where the only signatures would be her and the finance director. She said certain contracts sometimes require the mayor’s signature and cannot be reassigned; in those narrow cases she said the signature would still need council authorization. Key said she would recuse herself from matters presenting a conflict and agreed to the council’s procedural option to remove those items from the consent agenda so committees—including the finance or law committees—could address the question.
Council members agreed that the matter should be handled at the council meeting through a motion to remove the specific resolutions from consent so the body can debate them in full. The committee did not take final action on the bank-signature resolutions during the Jan. 12 meeting.
What happens next: The items flagged for removal from the consent agenda will be the subject of motions at the next council meeting; the councilors suggested referral to the finance or law committee for an examination of signer requirements and possible alternatives, including requiring an additional signature for mayor-required signings.
