After the newly elected Madison County Board members were sworn in at a reorganizational meeting on Dec. 5, board member Mick Madison (R-Bethalto) was selected to serve as chairperson pro tem.
Madison was nominated by Terry Eaker (R-Bethalto). As pro tem, Madison will be responsible for many of the powers removed from the elected chairman when the board approved a new ordinance in July. The ordinance strips nearly all of Chairman Kurt Prenzler’s “substantive powers” within county board administration and passes those powers to the pro tem.
The Board also selected Stacey Pace (R-Troy) to serve as the vice chairperson pro tem.
The board struggled at first to decide on a pro tem. Both Madison and Pace were nominated but neither received the required 14 votes. Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine advised that the board could not move on until a pro tem is chosen.
“You need to figure it out,” he said.
Board member Paul Nicolussi (R-Collinsville) filed a motion to postpone the vote for pro tem until after the new board voted on returning the chairman’s powers.
“I think we have a new board today and I think that if we voted to remove the chairman’s powers, the vote would go much differently today,” he said.
Nicolussi said constituents in his district are upset that they have not had representation since September 2021 and asked him when the chairman will get his administrative powers back.
“I just want to say that I’m not here to rubber stamp everything that the chairman does,” he said. “I’m just here to do the will of my voters in District 23.”
“If someone wants to do the chairman’s job, there’s an election coming up in 2024,” he added. “You’ll be filling your paperwork out for the primary a year from January. If you would like to do his job, run against him. What’s more democratic than that?”
The motion failed, and Haine told the board that “there can be no final act” on a matter unless it is already on the agenda.