February 21, 2025
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Yes, it’s binding: The Oglesby referendum isn’t advisory

Guest speaker outlines pros and cons to voting ‘yes’ on April 1

By Tom Collins
If Oglesby residents voted to have a city manager and decided they didn’t like it, they’d need to hold a referendum four years later to revert to the current form. Naperville attorney Karl Ottosen spelled out other pros and cons at a Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, forum on the referendum set for April 1.

If Oglesby residents voted to have a city manager and decided they didn’t like it, they’d need to hold a referendum four years later to revert to the current form. Naperville attorney Karl Ottosen spelled out other pros and cons at a Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, forum on the referendum set for April 1. (Tom Collins)

A common question asked about the April 1 referendum is whether it’s advisory or binding.

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

—  Ken Ficek, chairman, Oglesby Plan Commission

At a Wednesday forum, Oglesby Plan Commission Chairman Ken Ficek tried to quell such confusion once and for all. The referendum is binding, he said, and the city would hire a city manager with a majority vote “yes.”

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

To eliminate additional confusion over how a manager form of government would work, the commission brought in a guest speaker: Karl Ottosen, a Naperville attorney who has represented municipalities and school districts and who agreed to speak free of charge.

“I don’t have any skin in the game,” Ottosen said. “I don’t care.”

But Ottosen said there are pros and cons to be aware of.

Karl Ottosen speaks Karl Ottosen discusses the pros and cons of Oglesby's proposed hiring of a city manager. (Tom Collins)

First, a manager wouldn’t necessarily report to the mayor. The manager is hired by the City Council, which in Oglesby’s case means a three-vote majority would result in a person getting day-to-day authority over the departments.

“If this were to pass, (then) the manager is in charge of the departments, not the City Council,” he said.

Second, if Oglesby found it didn’t work it 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.

“I have no knowledge of one (a city) that has done so,” Ottosen said. “I don’t know of one that has rescinded it.”

Third, the council would enter into a contract with a city manager. That contract, he said, should not exceed the mayor’s term of office.

Ottosen further noted he’s not for or against a managerial form of government. Oglesby, however, is in a rare category having a commission form of government while considering adding a city manager – and an experienced city manager in Oglesby’s budget might not be easy to find.

“The commissioner is a little funky by itself, the managerial form is funky,” Ottosen said. “Welcome to Illinois.”

Ficek noted it isn’t the form of government that decides a city’s success or failure.

“It’s really the people who are elected who make the difference,” he said.

Notable questions or comments from the floor:

  • Mark Duttlinger asked if a manager were dismissed, could the city be sued? Yes, depending on the grounds for dismissal; but the city would be free to hire a replacement. More typically, Ottosen said, there would be a severance or buyout to head off litigation.
  • Dan Fitzgerald asked if a city manager could be likened to the role a CEO plays to a board of directors. The manager could be viewed as a kind of CEO, Ottosen said, and in turn the mayor’s role becomes more ceremonial.

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