Laurie Eliot-Shea resigned from the Richwood Revitalization Committee, a subcommittee of the Village of Richwood Council, effective on July 9 following Village Solicitor Alison Boggs’ suggestion that a committee have a maximum of two council members as voting members.
“Her logic was sound,” said Chairman Reddy Brown. “If four council members are on this committee and they make a decision in this committee and then they go to the next council meeting, unless something changes their mind, which is of course possible, but she seemed to say that’s illegal because maybe they don’t change their mind.”
Brown added that three can also be an illegal number of council members on a committee because if another member is absent then three council members would make up the majority of the quorum. Other committees, such as the Trailblazers, are also potentially in violation of Sunshine Laws regarding membership.
Eliot-Shea asked Boggs at the council meeting on June 28 if she could still participate as a non-voting member, and Boggs said yes.
“Honestly, what difference does that make? But it seems to make a legal difference, and I don’t understand it,” Eliot-Shea said.
She also said she “intend[s] to be present and vocal.”
Additionally, the Richwood Revitalization Committee cannot have more than seven voting members, according to its charter.
As of the July 8 meeting, the committee had 11 voting members. However, only five voting members were present — Brown, Eliot-Shea, Gail DeGood-Guy, Aaron Smith, Sue McBride Bails and Donald Ridgeway — at the meeting.
The committee charter does not include a method for removing members, so members are expected to voluntarily quit.
“We can’t force the people out by any method in our charter,” Brown said.
Brown intends to ask an additional three members to volunteer to depart their roles on the committee at the next meeting on July 22 to be legally compliant.
Smith suggested changing the charter to a maximum of seven voting members and an unlimited number of alternates, who are not council members. Alternates would serve as temporary voting members if any voting members are absent to maintain a quorum.
“To further address the illegality of our committee with too many council members, we should also propose a method for removal of members,” Smith said.
The committee members discussed adding to the charter that a five-member vote be required to remove a voting member.
Changes to the committee’s charter must be approved by the council. The quorum voted to present to the council the proposed changes, including the maximum number of seven voting members, the use of alternates, a maximum of two council members as voting members and the method of removing voting members by a five-member vote.