A new ordinance that would have limited Rock Falls Mayor Rod Kleckler’s power to appoint department heads was voted down Tuesday, Nov. 18, after the mayor himself cast the deciding vote on whether his power to appoint should have been reduced.

The ordinance would have changed city code to mandate that its fire and police chiefs would be hired by a commission that’s appointed by the council, that all other department heads would be appointed by a majority vote of the council and added a committee-led hiring and review process, according to the ordinance.

[ Rock Falls police, council balk at mayor’s police chief selection, say in-house resumes were ignored ]

After a round of voting, the measure failed on a 3-4 vote. Alderpersons Marshall Doane, Cathy Arduini and Steve Dowd voted no while Violet Sobottka, Vickey Byrd, Nathan Stahr and Gabriella McKanna vote yes. Alderperson Bill Wangelin was absent. Kleckler, who voted no, cast the deciding vote.

Kleckler said the current ordinance and procedure for appointing positions “had been working fine.”

Dowd told Shaw Local he voted no because selecting a police chief should be the mayor’s responsibility and voted on by the council.

But Sobottka, chairperson of the ordinance committee, told Shaw Local the ordinance was written as a result of Kleckler’s lack of transparency with city officials when he announced his pick for Rock Falls’ next police chief in September.

Before voting, Kleckler told the council that the changes would completely remove the city’s authority to select its police chief, create a difficult process to remove the chief from office if they aren’t running the department how the council wants and take “an awful lot of time and effort” to fill these positions.

Sobottka said the commission already handles the hiring for lower-ranked officers in those departments and isn’t influenced by politics.

“Frankly, the system worked until just this year,” Sobottka said. “The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the city in the future and its employees from any one person.”

“We are supposed to put the city first. Right now, that’s not happening. The police department has no solid leader. We’re deadlocked,” Sobottka said.

Following the retirement of former Rock Falls Police Chief Dave Pilgrim on Sept. 30, Kleckler presented the council with his pick for chief at a committee meeting that night. Kleckler was met with outrage from city officials and its police officers who accused him of trying to sway the council’s vote by ignoring in-house applications.

Sobottka said that currently in Rock Falls, the mayor is supposed to work with the city administrator to select a new police chief. Together, they narrow down the applications and then present a candidate to the council.

“That didn’t happen, he [Kleckler] cut out the city administrator totally and just did it on his own, picked out one candidate and said, ‘this is who I want,’” Sobottka said.

On Oct. 7, the council voted to appoint a different canadidate, Rock Falls Patrol Sgt. Ryan McKanna, as interim police chief. Kleckler told Shaw Local he wouldn’t consider McKanna to be his choice for chief and is in no hurry to hire for the position.

[ Rock Falls City Council appoints McKanna as interim police chief; mayor says city in ‘no hurry’ to hire ]

Sobottka said Kleckler hasn’t presented the council with another candidate for chief and can hold the council deadlocked for months if he doesn’t bring them another option.

Sobottka said she is going to revise the ordinance and bring it back to the council.

The ordinance: what would it have changed?

The Rock Falls code says all department heads - including the members and chairperson of city committees, commissions and zoning board; the directors of tourism, economic development, and electrical utilities; the business office superintendent and city administrator; and the police and fire chiefs - are appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the city council.

The ordinance on the table Tuesday night would have changed that to read that all department heads would be appointed by the city council with a majority vote. Police chief and fire chief positions would be appointed by the board of fire and police commissioners and “shall not be appointed by the mayor,” according to the proposed ordinance.

It also would’ve added an ordinance committee review process to be followed for all appointed city positions except for members of committees, the industrial development and plan commissions, industrial development and the zoning board.

It says the ordinance committee would be tasked with reviewing all qualified candidates, conduct or oversee interviews, evaluate candidates based on qualifications, experience and suitability for the position and submit a written recommendation to the mayor and council within 60 days of being notified of the vacancy unless an extension was granted by a council majority vote. No vote on any position could be taken until that recommendation was submitted.

The ordinance also would’ve allowed the mayor to make temporary appointments if needed for public health, safety or welfare. That individual would fill the position for a maximum of 60 days and the committee review process would begin immediately, according to the ordinance. .