Campton Hills trustees fail to rescind treasurer’s appointment after legal debate

Campton Hills — The Campton Hills Village Board on Feb. 17 failed to rescind the Feb. 3 action confirming Patsy Smith as village treasurer after a contentious, hour-long discussion in which attorneys disagreed over whether a board can unconfirm an appointed officer and what procedure must be followed.

Attorney Thomas Melody of Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins told trustees that a motion to rescind is recognized under Robert’s Rules and "requires 4 affirmative votes to be successful," setting a clear procedural threshold for the measure. Temporary village attorney Carrie Lynn Crafter warned that Illinois case law can create a vested property interest in an appointive office once an oath is taken and said removing an officer after an oath "could expose the village to civil rights liability" without due process.

The debate revolved around two competing legal interpretations: one view, advanced by Melody, is that a properly framed rescission motion is procedurally valid but needs four yes votes; other attorneys and trustees argued the Illinois Municipal Code limits a board’s ability to unconfirm a duly appointed officer and that a motion to reconsider must be made at the same meeting as the original confirmation. Ken Shepro, who described himself as a municipal parliamentarian, said board powers under local code do not generally permit unilateral unconfirmation of an appointed officer once confirmed.

Trustees divided over policy as well as procedure. Trustee Nick, who urged outsourcing day-to-day accounting to the already-approved firm Lauterbach and Eamon, argued the village would gain continuity and professionalism by contracting with an outside firm and said the service represented a substantial savings compared with prior arrangements: "Cost of this service is saving us $4,030,000 dollars roughly from where we were last year," he said. Several trustees said they favored an outsourced or professional solution to reduce reliance on a single individual.

Patsy Smith, the appointee at the center of the motion, defended her work and status. Smith said she had been sworn in and was bonded, described steps taken to reconcile accounts and train staff, and urged trustees to allow the administration to complete the budget cycle. "I'm in office until I die or resign," she said, adding that any change to the appointment would require action by the village president or a court.

When the board called the question, the motion to rescind received three affirmative votes — short of the four required under the procedural standard discussed earlier — and failed. After the vote the board moved to adjourn and took a brief recess to await Trustee Millette.

The meeting underscored a split among trustees over the proper mix of professional contracting and individual appointments and highlighted legal uncertainty about the mechanics and consequences of rescinding an appointment after oath. The board did not adopt any change to the treasurer’s appointment at the Feb. 17 special meeting; any future effort to alter the arrangement would likely involve further legal review or a presidential appointment followed by board action.