Troy Council Votes To Destroy Old Audio Recording Of Meetings
By Steve Rensberry, Editor
Aldermen on the Troy City Council took action on only one major item at their Dec. 2 board meeting, that being an ordinance authorizing the destruction of audio recordings kept of the meetings going back to 1999.
A motion to approve the ordinance passed on a vote of 6-0, with aldermen Manley and Sam Italiano voting “no.”
The agenda item had become a topic of conversation earlier in the day after a local resident posted on social media about it, with some implication that Troy Mayor Al Adomite was orchestrating the move for some unkown reason.
Two former aldermen, James DeCarli and Regina Hendrickson, both spoke during the time for public comment, voting their concerns about destroying the recordings.
Adomite took issue in particular with implications that he was somehow trying to cover something up or had ordered the records destroyed, noting that it was the clerk who brought the matter forward after attending a seminar for public officials.
State specific state statute (5 ILCS 120/2/06) states that all public bodies must keep both written minutes and recorded verbatim minutes for at least 18 months, with meeting minutes required to be approved within 30 days after the meeting has occurred.
“The verbatim record may be destroyed without notification to or the approval of a records commission or the State Archivist under the Local Records Act or the State Records Act no less than 18 months after the completion of the meeting recorded but only after: 1) the public body approves the destruction of a particular recording, and 2) the public body approves minutes of the closed meeting that meet the written minutes requirements of subsection (a) of this section,” the statute states.
Troy Police Chief Brad Parsons reported that the department has recently arrested three suspectes in a month-long investigation that involve a series of storage shed burglaries.
Arrested were Luzia Heise of Swansea, Joseph Rodgers of Highland, and Parker Lewis from Troy.
Evidence in the case was presented on Nov. 25 to the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office, who subsequently charged Rodgers and Lewis each with gunrunning, two counts of burglary, three counts of possession of a stolen firearm, and three counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felong. Heise was charged with gunruning and three counts of unlawful possession of a stolen firearm.
The investigation spread into several jurisdictions in both Illinois and Missouri, according to a statement issued by the Troy PD, leading to subpoenas and search warrants and the recovery of sixteen stolen firearms — three of which were recovered by the Troy Police Department, with assistance from outside agencies.
Former alderman Tim Greenfield gave council members an update on the planned Field of Honor that will be constructed at Tri-Township Park where the current Veterans Memorial is. Greenfield said things were going well, with support growing all the time, but was asked to come back with the Finance Committee due to meet next week, and the real possiblility — according to Adomite — that some amount of Tax Increment Financing district revenue could be used to help fund the project.
