The majority of the Rock Island County Board voted no confidence in Chairman Phil Banaszek on Tuesday, June 17, 2014.
15 board members voted yes, 4 voted no and 5 abstained. The vote comes after the Chairman of the Rock Island County Democratic Central Committee called on Banaszek to resign.
On June 11, 2014, Rock Island County Board member Scott Terry requested the vote of no confidence be placed on the June 17, 2014 agenda. The executive committee on Monday, June 16, 2014 voted to take the vote off of Tuesday's agenda. However, the vote was one of the first topics brought up at Tuesday night's meeting and members voted to place it back on the agenda.
"The yes vote was because the board no longer feels confident in the chairman's leadership," said Terry.
"What I'd like to see is the Chairman take a step down from the leadership post," he added.
Banaszek said he is not stepping down.
"As the state's attorney said, it's a symbolic vote. All it is is informational as she stated and that's all I've ever taken it to be. I was elected by the majority of my board for my chairmanship and I have every intention of sitting out the chairmanship," he said.
The vote was essentially symbolic. There will be no ramifications because of the vote.
"It was indicated by several board members that it's more of an indication that the direction we're heading is not agreeable to the Board and we need to start taking a look at some different options," said Banaszek.
The Board also discussed the possibility of hiring a county administrator. Board members talked about what it would take and how to potentially pay for it. A motion was passed to move the issue before the Governmental Affairs Committee.
The Board is also waiting to hear back from the Attorney General about how they could go about downsizing the Board. The Board passed a motion that would have a person report each month on the status of the Attorney General's opinion.
They will also take a look at their current ethics policy and require each board member to sign it every year.