Alderpersons haven't called public works, public safety, and legislative committee meetings in years, city records suggest
In 2019, aldermen ran promising responsive government. But with one week from election day, city records reveal alderman haven't convened many of the city's committees like public safety in nearly four years.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include notations in the first several paragraphs regarding a public records request the HWH received in the course of our reporting.
Written records of what decisions aldermen have made in the city’s committees don’t exist.
That’s because alderpersons haven’t convened the legislative, public works, and public safety committees in the nearly four years they’ve been in office. The Clerk’s Office doesn’t have any committee meeting minutes on file to confirm their attendance.
The special events committee no longer exists, the HWH confirmed, but is still incorrectly listed as active on the city’s website.
In February, the HWH submitted a public records request to the Harvey City Clerk’s office requesting copies of public works, public safety, legislative, and special events committee meeting minutes dating back to 2019. The Clerk’s Office said no records were available.
This comes as all are up for reelection, fighting criticism that they've been a lame duck crew. Elected in 2019, the current aldermanic roster promised reform and responsive government. Their attendance record suggests they’ve fallen short.
That includes mayoral candidate Alderman Marshun Tolbert (2nd), who chairs the legislative committee, tasked with drafting and reviewing proposed legislations before they are voted on by the City Council.
Tolbert did not respond to multiple email and phone call requests from the HWH.
Alderman Dominique Randle-El (5th), head of the public safety committee, defended his absenteeism, citing a lack of institutional power and authority to shape policy in Harvey. Committees are“not always the answer,” Randle-El said.
“We meet as needed. When there's a particular need or a particular issue, then we call a meeting. Committees are meant for legislative purposes, and laws are there, but the enforcement isn't.”
Randle-El noted a similar absenteeism at the congressional level.
“Every committee in every government does not meet all the time,” he went on. “The ethics committee is not going to meet if there is no ethics violation, [but] it still exists in case it is one. U.S. Congress is not meeting for anything. But that does not mean that you are not addressing issues. Congress is still functioning, they're still voting, they're still approving budgets.”
However, Congress is mandated by law to convene at least once a year.
But the public safety committee is planning to hold a meeting this year, Randle-El said, during which they will discuss a collaboration with Cook County to ensure an absence of lead pipes in Harvey, starting with daycare facilities.
Other issues to be discussed include a program to help homeowners purchase doorbell ring lights—the costs of which the city could help with—and helping homeowners switch to LED bug lights to help increase street lighting, he continued.
Democracy (not) in action
Dick Simpson is a former 44th Ward alderman in Chicago and political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies democracy and political corruption. Simpson said that committees are a chance for the public to speak up because they don't contribute to specific legislation during regular City Council meetings.
But even without public contribution, committees let alders get more information than at the City Council meetings, question department heads for a longer time, and bring up problems in their neighborhoods, Simpson said.
“If there aren’t consistent meetings you do not have a democracy—you have a tyranny or an autocracy of some sort,” Simpson said.
Harvey homicides are currently the highest of any municipality in suburban Cook County, according to Cook County Office of the Medical Examiner data. Even while homicides surged and complaints about public safety abound, the one committee where residents could feel heard failed to meet.
When violence is such an issue, Simpson said that the public safety committee is essential and needs to meet consistently. “In the case of Harvey, the lack of oversight has produced corruption at massive scales, in comparison to the size of the population,” Simpson said.
“Harvey is also one of the poorest communities in all of Illinois, and that makes it particularly important that citizens have faith in their town government and that they understand what decisions are being made about their future.”
But on the legal level, only certain committees like finance and zoning are prosecuted for not having regular meetings, Simpson added.
Committee assignment is based on preference, and members have full latitude of when to call meetings, according to Alderman Tyrone Rogers (6th).
Ald. Rogers is finance committee chair. It’s been meeting regularly for the most part.
The finance committee reviews most of the city finances and makes sure that the expenses made through the city are legitimate. Rogers said that the finance committee gets a bills list twice a month and hold a meeting the fourth Monday of each month. Rogers said that the meeting agenda is 48 hours beforehand for the public to attend.
The website states “city council and administration that values transparency.” But Simpson explained that for full transparency, committee meetings need to be transcribed and livestreamed so the public has greater access to the information discussed.
The planning and zoning commission
While alders buck committee duties, the mayoral appointed, volunteer-led planning and zoning commission is taking action. In the fall of 2021, the commission successfully completed recommendations to update the city’s zoning map. That hadn’t been done since 2009.
Commission meetings are pretty consistent, but its members still described it as an advisory board without any authority.
Ryan Sinwelski, planning and zoning committee member and a real estate agent, said that the members are appointed and unpaid.
Most of the planning and zoning committees' work is making suggestions to the City Council on whether or not they should approve or deny the permits for new businesses looking to open in Harvey, Sinwelski said.
“We just make recommendations for the Mayor and the City Council. They're the ones that [take] action and they can feel free to do whatever they want with our recommendations,” he said.
Planning and zoning committee member David Clay II, a candidate for city treasurer and former Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Chris Clark, agreed that the planning and zoning committees do not hold any real power.
Clay is also a member of the new comprehensive plan committee. The comprehensive plan committee, in collaboration with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, is working on the first comprehensive plan for Harvey in years.
“Harvey has not had a comprehensive plan done in over 20 years,” Clay said. “Ultimately, the point of this committee is to lay a very comprehensive plan as to what direction we would like to see the city of Harvey go. So far as zoning what kind of businesses and environment we want to create.”
The mayoral appointed group is holding its first meeting on March 30 and Clay is part of it, he said.
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Amina Sergazina is a journalism student at the Columbia College Chicago. Her articles have been featured at The Columbia Chronicle, Austin Fit Magazine and the Chicago Reporter. She got into the journalism because I loved writing, but stayed because they want to amplify voices of the people who are not being heard in our society. Sergazina is passionate about local reporting and connecting with the community around her.
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