Some Blue Island residents want aldermen to rethink proposed rules that would dictate how city council meetings are run.

The city council’s judiciary committee was set to consider proposed rules Tuesday night but postponed action after listening to an hour of public comment from citizens.

“Nothing should be voted on without plenty of opportunity for public input,” resident Kathy Kuehner said. “That didn’t happen in this case.”

Some residents said they disliked a proposed rule that would set a five-minute time limit on aldermen speaking about a topic during a city council meeting.

“No member shall speak longer than five minutes on any item being considered, except by consent of the majority of the members present,” according to the proposed rules.

The time limit seems inappropriate, resident Anna Stange said.

“We need more public discussion, not less,” she said.

The proposal also describes the duties of a council meeting’s presiding officer, who usually is the mayor unless the mayor is absent.

“In case of any disturbances or disorderly conduct that disrupts the meeting, the presiding officer shall have the power to require the chamber to be cleared of persons causing the disruptive behavior, subject to appeal,” according to the 12-page draft of the proposed rules.

Tuesday was the first meeting of a newly configured judiciary committee following April’s election, when six new aldermen were elected. Ald. Nancy Rita is the committee’s new chair.

The proposed rules were modeled after procedures used by governing bodies in other towns, Rita said. The procedures were drafted by Montana & Welch, the council’s legislative counsel.

The 14-member council voted 11-2 last month to retain the firm to provide legal services for aldermen. The ordinance states firm will bill rates of $185 per hour for attorneys. Blue Island also has a city attorney, Cary Horvath, of Odelson & Sterk.

The decision to hire a legislative counsel followed about 40 minutes of questioning by Ald. Bill Fahrenwald on May 28. Fahrenwald asked all council members how they learned about the plan to hire a legislative counsel.

Several aldermen said they spoke individually with Ald. Fred Bilotto. That prompted citizens to question whether aldermen complied with the Open Meetings Act by privately discussing the issue.

At one point during Fahrenwald’s questioning on May 28, Bilotto asked Mayor Domingo Vargas to call for Fahrenwald to yield the floor, but Vargas allowed Fahrenwald to continue. After consulting with attorney Matt Welch, Bilotto called for an appeal of Vargas’ decision, but Vargas refused to consider it.

On Tuesday, Bilotto told the judiciary committee that he had since discovered that Blue Island has never adopted formal rules for council proceedings in the city’s 147-year history.

“We as a city do not have any rules or procedures” for council meetings, Bilotto said. “We need to have some kind of rules.”

Informal norms and traditions have guided how city officials have conducted business, he said. The lack of formal procedures gives too much discretion and authority to the person presiding over a council meeting, Bilotto said.

“The chair can make the rules as they please,” he said.

Fahrenwald, who chaired the judiciary committee prior to April’s election, criticized the proposed five-minute time limit and language about removing disruptive people from council chambers.

“I think expelling an alderman should be a pretty drastic measure,” Fahrenwald told the committee. “In the real world, where 11 aldermen are voting as a bloc, I will be expelled.”

Fahrenwald and Ald. Tom Hawley voted against hiring Montana & Welch as legislative counsel on May 28.

The draft of the proposed rules states that aldermen shall have the ability to call for an appeal of decisions by the presiding officer.

“A member’s right to appeal is absolute,” according to the draft.

The judiciary committee will meet at 7 p.m. Monday to consider potential revisions to the proposed rules and procedures. The city council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is July 9.

The retention of legislative counsel and proposal to adopt rules for council meetings appear to be related to aldermen’s efforts to investigate the mayor’s conduct.

In January, aldermen learned about alleged connections between Vargas and the purchase of two Chevy Tahoes that were registered to the city.

Council members then raised questions about ties between Vargas and a shadowy government website. Vargas has denied any wrongdoing. He was elected to his second, four-year term as mayor in 2017.

On Jan. 29, the council voted 8-6 to hire a law firm to investigate the vehicle purchases and website issues, but Vargas vetoed the measure.

The outcome of April’s election means the council supermajority bloc now appears to have enough votes to override a Vargas veto.

By putting formal rules in place and having an attorney in their corner, the council majority could be setting the stage to once again seek to pursue a city investigation of the mayor.

That could lead to fresh disputes about whether the mayor or the council majority is recognized as the decision-making authority in Blue Island.

There are sure to be noisemakers throughout the city on the Fourth of July, but the bigger fireworks may be at Blue Island City Council meetings later in the month.