Two weeks after Harvey 2nd Ward Ald. Colby Chapman was arrested during a City Council meeting, tensions flared again Monday as Mayor Christopher Clark abruptly cleared a packed council chamber, citing disruptions from Chapman’s supporters and residents.

Chapman was arrested April 28 and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer, according to court records. Her next court appearance is June 4. She said her mother was also arrested during the meeting.

“My passion for the issues facing our residents sometimes pushes me beyond procedural boundaries, but my intent has always been to speak for those who are voiceless,” Chapman said.

The alderwoman said she was trying to ask questions about a redevelopment agreement for a blighted property at 60 E.155th St., which she said is owned by one of her constituents, 89-year-old Betty Allen.

“She’s been in this community 27 years, and to think that my very questioning of why the home was being sold and how it was being sold and who it was being sold to would then cause not only me harm, but … could you imagine your mother in handcuffs because she stood up for her child?” Chapman said. “Well, that’s what I was faced with.”

In a recording of the last City Council meeting posted on the city’s Facebook page, Chapman can be heard speaking over Clark as he calls for a vote to approve the redevelopment agreement. After repeatedly telling Chapman she was out of line, Clark called for a vote to censure and remove her, which the council approved.

When officers approached to escort Chapman out, she said, “Don’t touch my stuff.” One officer grabbed her by the arm and two others joined in escorting her out as she said, “Why are you putting your hands on me?” and appears to struggle against their grip.

“You don’t further your cause by being out of order,” Clark said during Monday’s meeting, addressing a nearly empty City Council chamber after Chapman signaled her supporters to leave minutes into his mayoral comments. “You don’t further your cause by hitting police officers. It’s amazing that the things we need to be upset about are the things we are not upset about. She hit a police officer.”

Chapman and 4th Ward Ald. Tracy Key walked out along with most of the attendees.

The property on 155th was given to the city by Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise that supports the housing market by buying mortgages from lenders, according to Clark.

However, Allen’s daughter, Suzann Allen Yamini, said her mother holds the original deed to the vacant 155th Street property, and the adjacent home where her mother lives on Myrtle Avenue.

A September 2024 agreement with the city states the Myrtle Avenue home receives water through Betty Allen’s 155th Street property. The agreement states the city would install a separate water main connection for the Myrtle property, with Allen responsible for 50% of the cost or $6,419.

Yamini said her mother did not want to alter the water connection and, because she owned both properties, saw no reason to change it. The city disconnected the water in February 2024, she said, and it wasn’t restored until Allen signed the agreement to separate the water service from the 155th Street property.

Clark said Freddie Mac owned the home on 155th Street.

“So as much as that lady wants to say she owns that house, she’s more than welcome to, but she needs to go take up the argument with Freddie Mac, not the city of Harvey, because that’s who owns the house,” Clark said. “The only thing we did was try to do what we need to do more of, which is find ways to get more of these homes rehabbed in our community so we can get families in here.”

Cook County 5th District Commissioner Kisha McCaskill said at a news conference before the meeting she hopes the mayor and Chapman can resolve their differences through “decent, adult conversations” and find a way to work together for the good of Harvey.

“We need to have leadership in place, either it be with the current mayor or someone else, but there needs to be leadership in place that makes people in the county, the state and the federal government want and desire to send money here,” McCaskill said. “It’s very difficult to bring money and programs and grants and other opportunities into a city when it doesn’t look like the council can get along.”

McCaskill said she has reached out to the mayor to schedule a meeting, but they have not yet been able to coordinate their schedules.

Enforcing decorum

Chapman and Key, along with their supporters and a number of Harvey residents, have pushed back against Clark’s efforts to enforce decorum at City Council meetings.

Since June, Clark has opened council meetings by reading a statement warning that clapping, booing, cheering, shouting or any conduct “considered disruptive” is prohibited. When disruptions occur, he uses a gavel to call the audience to order.

Monday’s meeting was not the first time the council chamber was cleared for a recess due to ongoing disruptions and resistance to Clark’s decorum rules.

After about 10 minutes, attendees were allowed back in, but the meeting resumed with only a small portion of the audience present as many were still going through security.

Harvey resident Glynis James-Watson said she was removed from a City Council meeting Nov. 25 for talking.

“We can’t clap, we can’t speak, we can’t make any comments out of our seat, because it’s considered disruptive,” James-Watson said.

She said she was cited for disorderly conduct and fined $500.

“If you go back and watch the city’s video of that, that meeting, you’ll notice that whatever I said — I still to this day don’t know what I said — was inaudible, but apparently it was enough to have a police officer come across four rows of seating to escort me out and it’s not just me. I certainly wasn’t the first, and I probably won’t be the last.”

At Monday’s meeting, James-Watson held up a printed picture of a thumbs up when Chapman’s supporters went up to speak during public comment, where many who spoke said it was their first time attending a council meeting. One man came from Chicago to voice his support for Chapman.

“I will say this with a smile, if you come back in here with that nonsense again, we will put you out again,” Clark said. “OK? And if you come in here disrupting our meetings again, we will put you out again. And if you decide that you want to resist arrest, then we will charge you as such.

It’s just that simple.”

First Ward Ald. Shirley Drewenski, 3rd Ward Ald. Telanee Smith, 5th Ward Ald. Dominique Randle-El and 6th Ward Ald. Tyrone Rogers expressed support for Clark and his administration, praising their work in the city and criticizing the ongoing clashes with Alds. Chapman and Key.

“I want our residents to know that we are being totally transparent. There’s some things that are going on over here and it breaks my heart, and I just don’t like seeing it,” Rogers said.

He said the City Council has done its best to work together.

“Then we get one or two people that come in, and they want to disrupt everything,” Rogers said. “They want a dog-and-pony show and bring in all these people that’s not a part of Harvey. We don’t do that.”

Clark said he is jealous that Chapman can rally so many supporters to council meetings, and called on residents in the other wards to come show their support if they agree with what his administration is doing.

“Our people need to come out too,” Clark said. “Because if you don’t, you’re making the world think that that type of behavior is what’s acceptable in the city of Harvey.”

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com