For months, Carmi City Council members have faced criticism from residents for not answering questions, in their view. FOIA requests had increased significantly, so the council felt it necessary to hire a law firm, Lashley and Baer, to process them. As a result, the council now owes a check for $21,531.50. Last month, the council tabled the bill due to the number of redactions and questions raised during the meeting. Now it was time for the council to decide.
Before they could do that, public comments came first. Janice Crow from Birth to Five gave a program update, and Jake Burnett with the Bulldog Skatepark shared his good news and thanked the council for their dedication to making his and many others’ dreams a reality. Burnett has more in store, but until then, he’s just happy that kids and adults have a place to do what they love.
Landon Rudolph was next, and after several heated exchanges between him and Jack Bradshaw. Bradshaw asked a question.
Bradshaw: “I’m gonna ask you this question one way or the other.”
Rudolph: “Ask it then. Finish it and I’ll answer it.”
Bradshaw: “When is this, when is these FOIA’s plan on stopping? I’m gonna..”
Rudolph: “When I get the answers that I need.”
Bradshaw: “What.”
Rudolph: “That was your question. I’m gonna..”
Bradshaw: “What are you wanting, what are you wanting with everything that you’re FOIA-ing? What is your final goal here for this council?”
Rudolph: “Some of the questions here will actually point to that after I read this. My final goal to this council is to clean it out, to pull the foxes out of the henhouse, sir. That is what I intend to do. You haven’t done anything wrong. Everything that I FOIA-ed, the only thing that points to anybody is this person right here sitting to the mayor’s right. Cynthia Attebury.”
Rudolph then got down to business. He raised allegations and questions concerning a prior agreement with the law firm that former Mayor Bill Stendeback conducted, with no record showing the council approved it before it was all said and done. He also asked Alderwoman Sheri Stevens and Acting Mayor Doug Hays questions about things said and done in closed sessions, which cannot be discussed. Then it was Attebury’s turn. Part of Rudolph’s lawsuits include allegations that Cynthia Attebury and City Attorney Greg Stewart answered FOIA requests made by Rudolph without holding a certificate for the right to do so.
Rudolph: “Did you have a FOIA certificate before July 31st, 2026? Did you take that FOIA, class? Did you file it every year? Were you answering my FOIAs without the proper training? You were, weren’t you? And then you were giving them to a lawyer who also didn’t have that FOIA certificate. They couldn’t answer my FOIAs without that certificate, Doug. Instead, your claimed FOIA officer sent them to your attorney to answer me for over a month. This city had no FOIA officer. So anybody who filed FOIAs before then, I beg you to file Section 11.”
Hays: “I..”
Rudolph: “She does know. That’s the thing. You’ve been told a crock of s***. She knows the truth.”
Resident Dee Stone took her turn to ask if the Stendeback would be held responsible for the bill instead of the city. Hays said it is still up for debate; he hasn’t talked to him about the issue yet, but the court is still handling it. Stone expressed concern about the cost of FOIA-related legal work, future city liability, and the need for transparency. Hays explained,
“There’s a lot of information that has to be redacted out of those forms because they’re not always just asking for public minutes and public stuff. It doesn’t need to be. Do I hate it? Absolutely. Do we have a choice? I don’t see that we do, because if something gets out that is not supposed to get out, something that should be redacted, the pending lawsuits from that would cost way more than this. Prior to this year, the number of FOIAs was more like a dozen a year, not a dozen a week. Your fear of future pending lawyer bills, they’re real.”
Stone then asked for help with a drainage issue where she lives and raised concerns about nepotism policies within the city.
Last up for public comments was Richard Cook, Jr., who pointed out another mistake made during the City Council meeting in approving last meeting’s minutes. During the October 20 meeting, Alderman Jeremy Courson made a motion and a second to approve a payment to Wiggs Excavating. No one caught that, and then at the November 2 meeting, all board members approved the prior meeting minutes. Twice, no one on the council caught that mistake; Cook pointed it out, and he added that members need to pay closer attention to what they approve and vote on. He then asked why, after he received an answered FOIA request, only one committee within the council met. With Hays adding to the already growing concern,
Cook: “Do you have minutes for your meetings? Do your committees meet?
Hays: “Not, honestly, very often. I’m really not sure how much you think the committees actually have met and had meetings or whatever. It’s actually very, very rare that aldermen speak.”
Cook: “Have they met?”
Hays: “I mean, obsviously, no. Um, we really don’t.”
Cook: “Our sewer systems $1 million in the hole and our sewer committee’s never met? Is that correct?”
Hays: “Individually, I think they talk to Don, but as fas as full-on committee meetings, probably not.”
Cook ended by suggesting the City Council reopen the city treasurer position as an elected office. The position was elected until 2009; an ordinance then made it an appointed position. Currently, Stacey Courson serves as treasurer.
With public comments ended, the body began approving agenda items. Up first, the $21,531.50 bill from Lashley and Baer. The body approved it, with the money coming from the general fund account; all agreed except Alderwoman Lacey Bradshaw, who was absent.
Next was approval of the wastewater treatment plant change order, which reduces the contract by $27,962.95 while extending completion by 120 days because of blower lead times and city-performed work.
Regarding the cleaning of three generators (9, 10, and 13), generator 9 was denied a cleaning due to pending fixes, but the other two generators were approved for a total estimate of $51,760.
Lastly, two resolutions were approved. They included changing the authorized signers at First Bank and approving the street closures for the annual Christmas Parade on November 28. The streets include: Third Street at Cherry St, Cherry St, Main Cross between Cherry and Robinson St, Robinson St between Main Cross and Jessup.
John Bolerjack rounded out the meeting by discussing credit card processing and the FOIA situation. He warned that continuing legal costs at the pace now could become unsustainable. On credit card processing, he presented options to the board to see whether they could integrate Tyler Technologies and bring back the online payment option, shifting transaction charges to consumers. Hays stated he would look into it.
The next Carmi City Council meeting will be on November 17 at 5:30 pm.