March 28, 2024
Letters to the Editor | Daily Chronicle


Letters to the Editor

Letter: Why hasn't DeKalb council held planning meetings?

To the Editor:

I asked the question, “who enforces the Municipal Code in DeKalb? The mayor? The city attorney? ”

Upon further checking I found in a state statute, 65 ILCS 5/6-4-7, under Mayor - Powers:

"The powers and duties of the mayor shall be:

"(1) To enforce the laws and ordinances within the municipality…."

It is a very clear legal duty to enforce the ordinances.

State statues and ordinances are laws. (Example: speeding in a school zone).

Under 3.08(d) of the city code, the city manager has a legal duty to see that all ordinances are enforced. It states that “the city manager shall be the chief law enforcement officer of the city and shall see that all laws and ordinances of the city of DeKalb and state of Illinois are enforced.”

Under 3.17 of the city code, "The city attorney shall undertake all actions directed or authorized by the mayor and City Council, and shall work under the supervision and direction of the mayor and City Council. ... The city attorney shall also serve as prosecutor of any violations of city code or ordinance."

Again both have clear language requiring legal duties.

The state statute (65 ILCS 5/6-4-9) requires the mayor, city manager and others to take an oath. We have seen the mayor, aldermen, city manager and others take their oath of office. When they took their oath of office as required by state law, they swore to “faithfully discharge their duties.”

The full oath is:

"“I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of ... according to the best of my ability."”

The mayor, city manager and city attorney all have legal duties regarding ordinances. Since the ordinance 2015-30 is to hold at least quarterly meetings (these must be on the same day as the City Council after 1 p.m.) for discussion was passed as ordinance more than 14 months ago, can the mayor, city manager or city attorney explain why no required meetings have been held? Why aren't they faithfully discharging their duties?

The residents of the city of DeKalb are entitled to an explanation.

Now that you know who is required to uphold and even prosecute ordinances, the question is, “why aren't those with a mandatory legal duty to enforce city ordinances doing it?”

Misty Haji-Sheikh

DeKalb