Carmi City Council meetings continue to draw heavy interest from dozens of community members who have felt compelled to continue showing up. The capacity crowd briefly exceeded the 50 individual limit Tuesday evening; but fell just under the threshold following the introduction of new Carmi Police Officer Jade French and the promotion of Jacob Quillen to Sergeant.
Usual suspects Landon “Rudy” Rudolph and Richard Cook, Jr. took turns addressing city leaders as did Councilman Jack Bradshaw’s wife, Jill. Don Davis, the city’s Chief Operator for the wastewater treatment plant also addressed his name being brought up and a few other residents took an opportunity to chime in. In all, three quarters of the regular meeting dealt with public comment and discussion.
The mayor asked for a motion to have removed from the agenda the first item for consideration, which was to be an ordinance setting boundaries and rules of conduct at meetings.
Because several members of the council have told me that they would like to have more time to consider this proposed ordinance number 1689 I would at this time entertain a motion to take ordinance number 1689 off the agenda.
Scruples have been of concern at the last several official gatherings in Carmi and other meetings we’ve covered recently in other towns. City leaders want procedure and decorum. Residents want to be heard. And at that crossroads, there’s palpable friction.
Rudolph passed out a typed request for consideration and adoption of a public meeting recording and accessibility policy. He says he wants to improve public access to council meetings, promote transparency, and increase civic participation arguing that adopting the policy actually helps the city and the public.
A recording benefits both the residents and the city. If A disagreement later arises over whether someone was disruptive, whether a speaker had been recognized, whether time expired, what words were actually used, whether a warning was specific, or whether enforcement was based on conduct rather than viewpoint. Everyone should be able to look at the same record instead of relying on competing recollections. This is also a practical form of risk management for the city.
From there, it spiraled into frustration however with Rudolph taking issue with the appearance on the agenda of the ordinance that he sees as a harness to his and others efforts. Cook also spoke out against the removed agenda item saying he didn’t expect it to get removed and starting with a comment that could’ve been considered off-color to test that ordinance had it passed. From there, he attempted to poke holes in the ordinance and made repeated jabs at incorrect spellings within the presented document.
But I do recommend that you take the oridnance [sic] back to scratch and maybe get a First Amendment lawyer involved in drafting a better, stronger policy that protects both the city and the residents. Or you can just trust the guy that apparently doesn’t know how to spell ordinance. But in my opinion, it would take a real (expletive)face (expletive)head to vote for this ordinance on how it was written.
Thank you.
Rudolph then returned to the podium with a raised voice demanding action to the point the gavel for order came out.
I appreciate the work the city has undertaken regarding the recording of City Council meetings. However, the issue should not remain pending while residents continue to go without access. The policy I submitted is complete, practical, and written to take effect immediately upon adoption. Something needs to be done now. Residents who cannot attend these meetings do not receive meaningful access from a promise. A recording policy may be adopted later. They receive access when the city begins recording and posting meetings. So, if you could please quit (expletive) on disabled people, Bill, I would appreciate that. Just like you’ve done to me. Quit (expletive) laughing, man.
Councilman Jack Bradshaw: Hey, let’s watch the language, please.
I don’t have to. (People talking over each other) I can say (expletive) anything. That’s (expletive) up, isn’t it? You shut him up. Now you shut up.
Rudolph then laced into City Clerk Cynthia Attebury regarding residency for the 2025 election and suggesting she misappropriated funds to find out if Stendeback was eligible to run for mayor.
So the city needed an attorney paid for by city funds for a resident who wasn’t yet elected. So you misappropriated city funds. You spent our money on a lawyer for this guy because…(Attebury: No I did not) yeah. So it’s in the billing documents to the city. So he was billed the city, he billed the city, not you. So our tax money went to pay a lawyer to see if Bill could run. Thank you for confirming that.
Lost is if so, who ordered that check into residency requirements. The line of questioning then pointed to Holly Healy and when information was sent to Chris Guy of Illinois American Water and then eventually circled back to Mayor Stendeback and residency.
Jill Bradshaw also took a turn at the podium to address the state of meeting etiquette.
Jill Bradshaw:
I’ve been a resident of Carmi for 48 years. We have raised our family here and are proud to call it home. And I realized by standing here speaking tonight, there will be a cornfield video or another video posted and comments made by brave keyboard warriors about me. Some will call me names and then smile at me when they see me in public, and that’s okay. I have been told for the past seven years that I probably just need not to speak to Council. But by just sitting quiet, that tells others that it’s okay to act and perform like they do, and it’s not okay. For the past two months, we have been coming to these meetings, and we have been sitting and watching and listening to the theatrics of some and the yelling, the name-calling, the cursing, pointing fingers, and the list goes on. I am not sure what makes someone think that this is acceptable or that it is their duty to spew evil and attack others.
Rudolph:
She’s clearly talking about me and not about your accounts.
Jack Bradshaw:
That’s enough.
Mark Blake:
Jack.
Jill Bradshaw:
Hey, Jack.
Jack Bradshaw:
That’s enough. That’s my wife. Jack. That’s her time. It’s her time.
Chris Bowles:
Can we let her talk?
Jack Bradshaw:
Please. Knock it off. Please. I’ve had it.
Jill Bradshaw:
Hey, turn around here to me.
That led to a stare down between Councilman Jack Bradshaw and Rudolph while Jill Bradshaw finished her address.
Don Davis also took time to address council asking about discussions with Craig McGowan of Commonwealth Engineers and inquiring as to why he couldn’t get on the agenda and attempting to clear his name from any behind the scenes discussions. Beyond that, Davis also asked to discuss traffic on Webb Street and looking at adding some methods to slow down vehicles there.
Another resident asked about the process of cleaning up properties with officials including the Chief of Police explaining the difficulties in legally getting those issues addressed.
Among agenda items successfully passed during the meeting, council signed off on ordinance verbiage updates regarding minimum standards for commercial operations at the airport. They also signed off on payments for engineering work, contractor work, attorney invoices, and TIF Audits by Moran Economic Development. Leaders approved an electric cost adjustment that will take it from .07 down to .0580 until 2027 and signed off on applying for an Illinois Deparment of Natural Resources Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Grant.
Mercifully, council adjourned at 6:33pm.