No city manager for Oglesby, voters say Tuesday

Oglesby voters shot down a referendum proposing a restructured government. Just over 70% of voters opposed the city manager concept.

The La Salle County Clerk’s Office reported 283 “yes” votes to 678 “no.” The total isn’t final but advocates and opponents agreed the margin was decisive.

“It is disappointing,” Mayor Jason Curran said, “but the people spoke.”

Curran said the council would resume work on the comprehensive plan, which was among the issues postponed while the city awaited Tuesday’s results.

“I think this was an amazing team effort,” said Brandy Day, a vocal opponent of the proposal and who penned an editorial published in Shaw Media. ”The town came together to speak their minds.

“We have a lot of work to do going forward for a more community-driven dialogue.”

“The people of Oglesby have spoken and the no vote won by a huge margin,” said Jay Baxter, a proponent who circulated petitions to put a referendum on the ballot. “Now the question is can the commissioner form of government solve the real and significant problems Oglesby faces caused by the commissioner form of government.”

Baxter secured plenty of signatures to put the question to voters, but there were hurdles.

For one, voters had seemed unclear on whether the referendum was advisory or binding. Oglesby Plan Commission Chairman Ken Ficek had to explain in late February that it was binding and the city would hire a city manager with a majority vote “yes.”

“Some people think this is advisory,” Ficek had said, “and it’s not.”

Multiple residents also spoke up at city council meetings in opposition toadding a new salary and to giving an outside hire day-to-day control over city operations and administration of city workers. Not least, the city would not be able to quickly rescind it.

Karl Ottosen, a Naperville attorney brought in for a question-and-answer session, had said that if Oglesby found a city manager didn’t work then voters would have to wait four years to hold a referendum on whether to abandon the managerial form of government. The clock starts ticking the date a manager is hired, not when the question passes.