SOUTH SUBURBAN VILLAGE VOTES TO FIRE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL AT RECENT BOARD MEETING

The Village of Dolton Board of Trustees recently voted to terminate their legislative counsel. Photo Credit: Provided by the Village of Dolton
The Village of Dolton Board of Trustees recently voted to terminate their legislative counsel. Photo Credit: Provided by the Village of Dolton

SOUTH SUBURBAN VILLAGE VOTES TO FIRE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL AT RECENT BOARD MEETING

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

At a recent Regular Board Meeting, Village of Dolton Trustees voted to terminate their legislative counsel for financial reasons. While the termination was approved unanimously, one trustee spoke out at the meeting to say that they believe the legislative counsel is an important resource for the Board of Trustees.

“This was something we discussed at a Committee of the Whole Meeting in May. This is an item that I felt we would not continue to use so we put it up for discussion and I would like to motion that we terminate the legislative council for the Board of Trustees,” said Jason House, Village of Dolton trustee.

Legislative counsel, by definition, is a lawyer or group of lawyers employed to assist legislators in the procedures for enacting legislation, according to Miriam-Webster.

While the Village of Dolton Board of Trustees has voted to terminate their legislative counsel and redistribute those funds elsewhere, they still have access to the Village Attorney, John Murphy, who was also present at the recent Regular Board Meeting.

“I’m going to vote to terminate because we do need the funds to go elsewhere but I do think that we need legislative council because the Village Attorney is biased that sits here on this board,” alleged Tiffany Henyard, Village of Dolton Trustee.

Trustee Henyard further alleged that the Village Attorney was, “working for the mayor only and advocating only for the Mayor,” and not advocating for the legislative body as a whole.

“I vote to terminate this because the Village needs the money but I am not in favor of keeping John Murphy as the Village Attorney because he’s biased,” alleged Trustee Henyard at the most recent regular board meeting.

Village of Dolton Mayor Riley Rogers rebutted Trustee Henyard’s accusation by saying that Attorney Murphy is highly trained in his profession and qualified to give legal advice.

“The Village Attorney is the Mayor’s appointment and secondly you always challenge the legal opinion of the attorney. You ask him for an opinion and then you challenge it. He is the one that has been to law school and has a degree so as far as him being biased, I don’t think that’s true,” said Rogers.

The Village Attorney spoke during the meeting to clarify information that was shared with Trustee Henyard in previous conversations but did not address her claims of his bias.

The Mayor and Trustee Henyard went back and forth for bit continuing to discuss their opinions of the Village Attorney but ultimately still voted in favor of dismissing the legislative counsel for the Village of Dolton and relying solely on the legal advice of the Village Attorney.

Full recordings of the Village of Dolton’s Board Meetings are available on the village’s Youtube channel.

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