EARLVILLE – A special meeting held Wednesday afternoon by the Village of Earlville opened almost immediately with outburst and interruption. Before the lights of village hall were turned off nearly two hours later, law enforcement had been called to keep the peace and the village DPW supervisor no longer had a job.
Mayor Toni Campbell opened her comments with a general warning to the audience. “There will not be public comment. Any outburst from the crowd and you will be asked to leave.” She then asked for a motion to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter, at which point a resident failed to heed her warning.
“We have a right to know what’s going on in our village,” resident Roxanne Lucero told the board. Lucero made comments regarding the board’s behind-closed-doors decision making, at which point Campbell asked the village clerk for the phone.
“We have a situation here at Village Hall,” Campbell said to the law enforcement she contacted. The mayor told the authorities that the public refused to leave the building for executive session, and within 15 minutes the board had moved the closed meeting to the neighboring village library, where four Madison County Sheriff’s Department deputies stood at the door.
Upon reentering Village Hall an hour after the meeting began, Campbell asked the board for a resolution on the issue discussed in executive session: the severance of employment of DPW Supervisor Bruce Pedrick. The mayor declined to give reasons for Pedrick’s removal and said the DPW head and the board had reached terms that are “amicable to both parties” in a severance package.
Many in the public interrupted the mayor, demanding she list reasons for Pedrick’s removal. “The severance package is being drafted,” she answered. Trustee Amy Clark backed the mayor, saying that because the issue has gone to council, they can’t discuss it.