Campton Hills trustees override president's veto to reinstate organizational chart ordinance

The Campton Hills Board of Trustees voted on March 3 to override the village president's veto of Ordinance 26-12, restoring the board's organizational-chart framework after an extended discussion about the ordinance's legal effect and the proper exhibit to implement.

Trustee Therese Hafensberger urged colleagues to uphold the veto and hold a separate workshop, saying multiple legal opinions raised "legitimate legal issues" and that trustees should ask counsel direct questions before adopting a chart with uncertain operational impacts. "A separate meeting would allow trustees to ask questions directly of counsel and fully evaluate the legal implications," she said during the debate.

Trustees who supported overriding the veto said the ordinance reflected a prior board vote on Feb. 3 and provided necessary administrative clarity. Trustee Nick said the chart was "an overall game plan to move forward" and that additional code amendments could follow to codify details. Trustee Frank said the ordinance offered more operational detail than prior charts and said the lack of clarity among staff under the previous structure had contributed to confusion.

Attorney Adam Forte told the board that the ordinance, as drafted, did not change the village's statutory form of government and that the charts should be treated as an administrative framework that would later be implemented through code amendments. Discussion included whether the packet contained the correct "Exhibit A" and whether multiple versions should be consolidated; some trustees called for a workshop to reconcile exhibits and draft precise implementing ordinances.

After questions and clarifications, the board proceeded to a roll-call vote and the motion to override the veto passed. Trustees who spoke in favor said the override preserves the board's adopted framework and commits the board to follow-up work to align the village code and personnel policies with the charts. Trustees on the other side reiterated concerns that the chart, without implementing code changes, created potential for confusion about authority until the code was amended.

The board recorded the vote in the meeting transcript and agreed to follow up with additional work on code amendments and, as several trustees suggested, a workshop to confer with legal counsel about drafting implementing ordinances.

What happens next: Trustees indicated they will schedule follow-up work to convert the framework into enforceable code and to ensure the organizational charts align with personnel policies and the village code. The board did not adopt any immediate code amendments at the March 3 meeting beyond committing to the follow-up process.