Council Votes Down Mayor's Pro Tem Appointment
Commissioner Martin Tully is denied the post on a 4-3 vote
An unprecedented vote on a routine matter revealed a widening breach between Downers Grove Village Council members. Watching the discussion play out during the May 20 meeting was as uncomfortable as stumbling into a family therapy session where members were—to employ one of the mayor’s phrases—“peel(ing) some Band-Aids” off their simmering frustrations and lingering grievances.
The impetus was Mayor Bob Barnett’s appointment of Commissioner Martin Tully as mayor pro tem—a resolution that would typically be approved without fanfare by the commissioners charged with rubber-stamping it. But this time, the appointment fell by a 4-3 vote—much to the chagrin of both the mayor and Tully, who previously served twice as mayor and twice as mayor pro tem during his 18-year council career.
Commissioner Leslie Sadowski-Fugitt, the council’s senior member, was the first to speak to the motion, prefacing her remarks by saying that, in the past, she “tried to keep my personal issues out of the public eye because I’m here to serve the community and not my personal ego or agenda.
“But in this case, I don’t believe voting for this is in the best interest of the community, and I’ll explain why.”
She said the Village Council has been moving away from “the Old Guard way of governing,” as evidenced by an increase in full-time employees in recent years. This followed the loss of more than 71 positions between 2008 and 2021 when, with the support of Barnett and Tully, “not raising taxes was politically advantageous,” Sadowski-Fugit said.
“The Old Guard also represents a time when it was normalized to appoint friends or make gentlemen’s agreements,” she said, adding that she ran for council in 2019 in response to Tully’s appointment of Art Jaros to the Library Board of Trustees. Jaros was removed from that board by a unanimous vote of the Village Council in 2017 after he reportedly berated same-sex marriage and homosexuals at a Library Board meeting.
Sadowski-Fugitt said there has been a lack of transparency about behind-the-scenes discussions concerning appointments, including that of mayor pro tem. “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours—and I want to end that. My campaigns focused on transparency and doing away with the good old boy network, as did many that came after me.”
Her concerns about Tully include his availability, given challenges in scheduling meetings of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee of the Village Council and Library Board of Trustees, of which Tully is the chair and Sadowski-Fugitt is a member. She also expressed concern that Barnett’s choice of Tully reflects a desire for a pro tem who “represents him and his views.”
Sadowski-Fugitt said she was unable to discuss these concerns in advance of the vote because she received no phone call from the mayor about the pending pro tem appointment, and only learned of the content of the resolution the evening before the meeting. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time I haven’t gotten a heads up” on council business, she said.
This is contrary to the council’s practice of not dropping surprises at meetings, she said. It also reflects what she perceives as a lack of respect.
“Despite my tenure, my attendance record, my work ethic and clear dedication to the residents, I have come to understand that the new pro tem would not be a new council member and would not be Leslie,” she said, adding “I’m not happy about sharing this in the public eye but, unfortunately, the mayor pro tem, as explained by the mayor, is an important role and it is critical that the community be adequately and ethically served.”
Both Sadowski-Fugitt and Commissioner Chris Gilmartin acknowledged Tully’s qualifications for the pro tem appointment. And to her concerns about his availability, Gilmartin added his own, also noting that “communication with Commissioner Tully has been a challenge.
“In the two years that Commissioner Tully and I have served together, never once has he initiated any communication with me,” he said. “Absence of communication is telling to me, especially when considering someone for a role that involves communication.”
“To me, this is about how this role functions in practice, what kind of leadership tone it sets and whether the person in this seat helps move toward the type of governance we’ve gotten away from, and what the community expects,” Gilmartin said.
Gilmartin said the mayor called him weeks prior to the meeting to say he intended to appoint Tully. “And I told him I did not support the choice and wasn’t sure he had the support of the majority,” Gilmartin said. “Until I saw the nomination, I wasn’t even sure Commissioner Tully would be the nominee.”
Commissioner Mike Davenport seemed taken aback by his colleagues’ concerns. “In my experience, wow. There’s no one sitting here who would be more qualified to be mayor pro tem than Martin Tully.
“So, I’m not understanding. I understand the idea of wanting some new perspective and to move on, move forward. I understand that but I also think the mayor has his prerogative to choose somebody who he feels he can work with. And, in this case, he’s expressed that Martin’s the guy,” Davenport said.
After thanking the mayor for “your thoughtful confidence,” Tully told Sadowski-Fugitt he was “baffled” by her comments and “deeply disappointed by a number of things you said.”
“I’m sorry, but there isn’t a person up here who can say with a straight face that I am not well qualified to ethically, respectfully and responsibly serve as mayor pro tem,” Tully said. “And you don’t have to take my word for it because I’ve done it. Twice. Under mayors Krajewski and Sandack.”
Sandack chose him as mayor pro tem, “despite us being on opposite ends of the preceding election, because Ron Sandack knew I was the most qualified candidate,” Tully said. “Politics were left aside.”
Similarly, Tully chose Commissioner Marilyn Schnell as pro tem in 2011, “even though we did not align on every issue by far, because she was plainly the most qualified person and especially because she served as mayor pro tem admirably under Mayor Betty Cheever,” he said.
“So, frankly my colleagues, this is plainly about something else,” he said. “It is personal. Or it’s partisan politics. But what I want to say to all of you, particularly to those who are newer to it, we are not elected to serve just those who helped us get elected. We, as commissioners and mayor, are expected and obligated to represent not just those who voted for us, but those who voted against us and those who did not vote or could not vote.”
Opposing Barnett’s pro tem appointment “also sets a very disappointing tone and tenor for the next two years of this council,” Tully said. “At the very outset, two members of this council have already dispensed with a working relationship based on collaboration, consensus and collegiality, and instead opted for an adversarial working relationship. This does not bode well. And again, I don’t appreciate the lack of courtesy or communication.”
To hear of the concerns “for the first time tonight, is just discourteous,” he said.
To which Sadowski-Fugitt replied, “It would have helped if I knew you were the nominee before 5:45 last night.”
“Well, what I heard is that there were some people who had already expressed their views on that, so it was hardly a surprise,” Tully responded.
And it continued from there, with Gilmartin also weighing in again and Sadowski-Fugitt pointing out that, in 2015, Tully chose as mayor pro tem Commissioner David Olsen, 26, who at that point was just two years into his first term. And a year later, when Olsen resigned, Tully appointed another first-term commissioner, Bill White, as mayor pro tem, again over more experienced Commissioners Barnett and Greg Hosé.
After listening quietly, Barnett decided it was time to “say a few things.”
“I was prepared for a lot of things but not what came tonight,” he said. “So, we’re going to go ahead and peel some Band-Aids.”
The mayor acknowledged that his first conversation about the appointment was with Gilmartin, but differed on the specifics. “He didn’t say, ‘I don’t think you have the support.’ He said, ‘I know you don’t have the support’,” Barnett said, adding that Gilmartin expressed concern that the mayor’s choice of Tully “has to do with you trying to be supportive of the next mayor and to diminish my presence on the dais.”
The mayor said this reflects a lack of understanding regarding the council’s flow of information and desire to avoid surprises. “We work hard as an organization to make sure those on the dais have the information they need to do their work at the same time and together, between Friday and Monday,” he said. “If there’s a problem with a couple of people getting information on Friday, it can certainly be had on Monday, but that’s not the problem.
“The problem is, when you’re new and you don’t have as much information as others, you can feel left out. And so, it’s about feeling left out. It’s about feeling like, I don’t know as much as everyone else, and I’m upset about that.
“That’s what’s going on here. That’s all it is,” Barnett said.
As for the pro tem position being a springboard to higher office, “it is not a political stepping stone,” Barnett said. “I mean, I guess it could be thought of that way, but we could ask Olsen, White and Schnell whether it worked out that way for them.”
Both Olsen and Schnell lost their elections for mayor after serving as the pro tem.
“It’s not a political stepping stone,” Barnett said. “It does not set up anyone for anything. There’s a tin-hat kind of thing going on here. I wish I knew, and I’m pretty sure somebody’s keeping something from me. I’ll leave my colleagues to go ahead and build that case for some future conversation.”
Barnett then proceeded to enumerate Tully’s qualifications for the pro tem position. “He’s eminently qualified for the role of mayor pro tem, but I want to talk a little bit more about what (the role) isn’t. Because it isn’t ribbon cutting, it isn’t sitting here holding the gavel and watching the clock on an occasional Tuesday night. Every person up here is capable of that.”
In addition to those more ceremonial responsibilities, the mayor pro tem has the duty, when called upon, to exercise any power that is vested in the mayor, Barnett said. These include acting as the official head or chief executive of the village, enforcing liquor laws, and issuing executive orders at times of emergency or disaster. While the mayor acts as one among equals on the dais, his or her responsibilities extend far beyond legislative actions, he said.
“I take every one of those non-legislative and chief executive obligations seriously,” Barnett said. “And I make this (pro tem) recommendation in light of those obligations. I am certain every person up on this dais could manage the next meeting. They could cut the next ribbon, they could show up at the ceremony and give a little speech on what we’ve done.
“That’s not the potential job. Commissioner Tully’s personal and professional qualifications, as well as his previous municipal leadership experience, make clear he is the best choice and the most qualified on council to fill the role of mayor, particularly the non-legislative demands.”
Barnett noted that he and Tully “have kinda been the opposite” of good old boys over the years. “It is not a stepping stone, and it is not an old boy’s network. It’s simply not. If you believe that’s what it is, you’ve talked yourself into that, likely with the encouragement of someone who’s seeking the next round of office.”
With that, Barnett called for the vote. Barnett, Tully and Davenport voted in favor of the appointment and Sadowski-Fugitt, Gilmartin, Tammy Sarver and Rob Roe were against.
Coming up tomorrow: My perspective on the deep divisions affecting this Village Council.