A Cook County judge is expected to determine members of the Calumet City electoral board after the city clerk, who is challenging Mayor Thaddeus Jones’ eligibility, objected to its makeup.

Clerk Nyota Figgs is objecting to Jones’ bid for reelection, saying the mayor’s principal residence is not in the city and that a referendum passed in 2020 prohibits a Calumet City official from also being a state legislator. Jones has been a state representative since 2011.

A municipal electoral board normally includes the mayor, clerk and longest serving alderman. However, because both the mayor and clerk are involved in the objection, the electoral board created for these objections has been attorney Tom Jaconetty, as chair, and the two longest serving aldermen, Ramonde Williams and Anthony Smith.

Figgs and her attorney, Burt Odelson of Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath, said both Williams and Smith are biased in their support for Jones, having close political ties to the mayor. Williams, Smith and Jones are among those whose campaigns have received funding raised by the Calumet City Democrats United political party, according to filings on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

“You can’t get a fair and impartial hearing because they raise money with him,” Odelson said Tuesday. “The two aldermen will vote any way that they’re told to vote — it’s as simple as that.”

Odelson said he believes Jones will be knocked off the ballot despite an unsuccessful challenge to his candidacy when he first ran for the mayor’s seat in 2021. Odelson said the referendum passed to prohibit candidates from running for mayor if they also hold an elected, paid office created by the state constitution had not been certified when Jones filed his petition for that election.

Jones’ attorney, Ed Mullen of Bucktown Law in Chicago, said the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting such a restriction on who is allowed to seek local office.

“If the state legislature passes a law, it supersedes the referendum,” Mullen said.

But Odelson said the legislature does not have the authority to reverse action taken in a direct vote, and that Jones prompted the change state law.

“They can’t retroactively go back and undo the votes of the people,” Odelson said.

Figgs, who also is running for reelection, faces a candidacy challenge from city auditor Alyssia Benford. Benford claims Figgs does not reside in Calumet City, but at an address in North Chicago.

Figgs also objects to the makeup of the electoral board, and Cook County Judge Maureen Ward Kirby is to rule next week.

If she determines Williams and Smith cannot serve on the board, she will appoint new members, Odelson said.

The next electoral board meeting with a potentially different board is scheduled for Dec. 6 at City Hall, 204 Pulaski Road, Calumet City.

ostevens@chicagotribune .com