On the last day to file to run for office in the spring elections three Normal citizens have applied to run for “Town” offices that haven’t been on the election ballot in previous years. Two of the offices do not currently exist in Normal. And the third exists but hasn’t been elected in recent years.
Robert Shoraga turned in petitions to run for Town Supervisor.
Shoroga told Cities 92.9, “The statute in Illinois is this position for an incorporated Town has to be an elected position and … more representation is always better than less and that is why I am running.” “Currently right now they (the Town of Normal) are not in compliance with the law,” Shoroga said.
Karl Sila submitted petitions for his father Charles Sila who is running for Town Collector. Karl Sila turned in petitions last week to run for one of three seats for Trustee (Council Member).
Karl Sila told us his father is running for Collector because, “By statute it (Town Collector) is supposed to be an elected position and the town has been operating illegally for decades so we are trying to solve that and get people more representation in town government.”
Nord Asks Normal, Absent an Elected Clerk, How is it Operating as a Town?
Amy Conklin filed to run for Normal Town Clerk. While Normal has a Town Clerk the position was not filled through the election process. Instead Normal Mayor Chris Koos appointed Angie Huonker to the position.
Conklin told us she filed to run, “because the Town of Normal is incorporated and if you are incorporated you are supposed to have an elected Town Clerk along with the Trustees, a Supervisor and a Collector.” Conklin said she, “thought it was time for them (the Town of Normal) to pay attention that they are not complying with the law of Illinois”
Karl Sila said when he turned in the petitions for his father Charles Sila at the Town Clerk’s office there was, “no specific reaction they were very matter of fact about it just like when we turned in petitions for trustee. It’s just another filing. The only thing is they had … an intake form that just said trustee. They crossed out trustee and in my case wrote in Collector.”
These filings follow a September 21st ruling by Judge Scott Kording that Normal is a town. The ruling in the case Siracuse versus Dullard stopped, at least momentarily, an effort by a group called Citizens to District Normal. The group was seeking to have Normal broken into districts with trustees being elected by district instead of at large.
In the case of Siracuse versus Dullard, on Friday Sept. 2, acting as attorney for Siracuse, David Shestokas argued that 1985 legislation requires town’s to elect these three offices as well as a Town Assessor, which no one filed to run for. He wrote the following in his Memorandum of Law in Support of the Petition for Judicial Review.
“If Normal is operating as an Incorporated Town without the state mandated elected roles, then Normal is operating illegally. The need to immediately make changes and have these roles elected to operate as a legal municipality in Illinois 65 ILCS 5/3.1-25-95 would be imperative, but the legality of ordinances, contracts and appointments that have taken place would be subject to challenge. The legal nightmares are nearly incomprehensible.”
Kording admitted that Shestokas presented a good argument. However, he decided that because the town hadn’t taken direct steps to change from a town to a village that even failing to abide by that law would not result in Normal being a village as Shestokas was claiming.
Be that as it may, Kording did not rule on the required elected offices issue itself because the Town of Normal was not part of the Siracuse versus Dullard case and was therefore not able to provide their input on the matter. That left the subject unsettled and as a result we find ourselves where we are today with these petitions being filed.
