Geneva City Council sets special, closed-door meeting to discuss personnel

Geneva city officials have set a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday for a closed session to discuss “appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific bodies of the public body,” according to the agenda.

Longtime City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins is set to retire Aug. 15, so discussion might be about her replacement. If that is the case, officials are not commenting.

“The city has no comment on the closed session,” city spokesman Kevin Stahr said in an email. “There is no action being taken by the City Council on Monday night.”

The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers, 109 James St. The open part of the meeting will include public comment, new business and – following the closed session – adjournment, according to the posted agenda.

The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires that meetings of public bodies be open to the public. But they can be closed for specific purposes: personnel, collective bargaining, litigation or for the sale or purchase of property. The agenda cited personnel as the reason for closing the meeting.

“The exceptions authorize but do not require the holding of a closed meeting to discuss a subject included within an enumerated exception,” according to the act.

Dawkins has been with the city for 17 years, nine of them as administrator, according to a May news release.

The search for Dawkins’ successor will include the City Council and department directors, with a focus on a smooth transition for and toward advancing the 2030 Strategic Plan, Mayor Kevin Burns said in May.

“We have every intention of selecting a successor and announcing before [Dawkins’] retirement,” Burns said then. “Somebody will be ready before she steps down – that is the plan.”