Cairo meeting mixes cooperation, antagonism

CAIRO, Ill. -- The city council meeting Tuesday night began with confrontation but slowly moved toward a more cooperative, although still antagonistic, approach to town business.

The most important effort at cooperation was aimed at preventing the cancellation of health insurance coverage for city workers. The council unanimously approved drafting paperwork aimed at allowing the city to borrow $136,000 to satisfy a court order over past-due premiums.

Mayor Paul Farris had barely begun his opening remarks when Councilwoman Linda Jackson pushed forward a resolution to seek a court opinion on which state laws govern Cairo's operations.

"Surely you would agree it needs to be taken to the courts," Jackson said.

"And I declared you to be out of order. You are totally out of order again," Farris shot back.

The issue of which laws govern Cairo is a fundamental problem for the city. Farris believes it operates under laws that give the mayor powers, including the ability to veto resolutions, which the council argues he doesn't possess.

Jackson won passage of her resolution on a 4-0 vote, with one abstention.

The issue is part of an ongoing battle between Farris and the council. Frustrated with what they consider Farris' heavy-handed approach to governing, four council members in December announced they would boycott meetings.

But the four -- Jackson, Elbert "Bo" Purchase, Bobby Whitaker and Sandra Tarver -- reversed course soon afterward. In response, Farris has withheld their pay.

And at the last three council meetings, visitors and council members have been met by armed police using metal detectors to search them before they are allowed in the building.

All five council members attending Tuesday's meeting submitted to the searches. Only Whitaker would not, and he did not attend the meeting.

Cairo Councilman Joey Thurston reacted in frustration to the lack of cooperation between council members during Tuesday's meeting at Cairo City Hall. (Don Frazier)

The two other council members -- Carolyn Ponting and Joseph Thurston -- were each in their turn critical of both Farris and his opponents Tuesday evening.

Ponting urged everyone to work together. "Folks, we've got to get down to business. We can't be two entities in here. If one says 'boo,' the other says 'hoo.' And if one says 'hoo,' the other says 'boo.'"

During discussion of the health insurance issue, Farris urged the council to face the reality that the court order had to be obeyed. A federal judge ordered the payments in January 2005 and the first half was paid last year.

Purchase criticized Farris for failing to take steps during the past 12 months to save enough money to pay the bill.

In reply, Thurston said there was no effort on either side to curtail spending. In November, Thurston left a meeting after offering a proposal to eliminate the salaries and benefits of council members and Farris and institute pay cuts for city department heads, saving the city $117,000 annually.

"When I brought stuff to the floor, why didn't anybody help me?" Thurston said. "I want to start with our salaries and benefits."

Other debts plague the city. Council members were promised that a list of past due bills would be mailed soon.

Cairo has other financial difficulties. First National Bank on Feb. 1 declared the town in default on its bond obligations and froze its accounts for unpaid loans.

Farris released a Dec. 3 letter that warned of dire consequences for failure to pay the loans but acknowledged under questioning that he hadn't met with bank president Ray Manus to discuss the issues.

As discussion continued, Farris and council members touched on problems of dilapidated buildings, how to encourage major employers and what needs to be done to finish an audit dating to 2003.

At the end of the meeting, both Ponting and Jackson agreed it had been productive.

"I actually think, folks, we have had a halfway decent meeting," Ponting said.

But the resolution to seek a court opinion on the town must be followed, she said. "Somebody needs to tell us something definite."

Reached after the meeting, Whitaker said he's waiting for an opinion from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on whether council members can be forced to submit to police searches to attend meetings.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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