Alderman Called 'Sketchy' In Profanity-Laced Outburst

EVANSTON, IL — A profane outburst punctuated a dispute over alley repavement grants early Tuesday morning at the Evanston City Council. Shortly before 1 a.m., aldermen discussed a resolution to apply for a grant to repave two alleys with the help of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. The city would have covered 40 percent of the cost, or $200,000, according to staff.

"We're just trying to pave alleys," said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz. "And we're trying to get money from a third party to help us do that." Applications for the grants are due July 30, so the Council was unable to postpone action.

Ald. Tom Suffredin, in his first term representing the 6th Ward, sought clarification with the MWRD about the criteria for the grant. He suggested changing which alleys were targeted for re-pavement in an apparent effort to bring down the cost for taxpayers. But the council's senior member, Ald. Ann Rainey, questioned his motives. Her 8th Ward would have been set to receive a pair of additional repaved alleys.

"I truly believe here that there's more to this than meets the eye, and that Ald. Suffredin has some kind of an axe to grind with the 8th Ward," Rainey said. "It seems to me that over and over and over, any opportunity to vote 'no' he picks, and it's just an incredible thing." She said other people had noticed Suffredin's hostility toward her policy priorities. Her ward just so happened to have a couple of very needy alleys, she said, which were both appropriate for the grant.

Ald. Suffredin said he had researched how the grants were assigned and identified two alleys that could be swapped in at a lower cost to the city.

"It's a savings of $90,000 to the city of Evanston, who we're all responsible for being good financial stewards for, and it meets the stormwater goals of the MWRD," Suffredin said.

"That's all it is, it has nothing to do with Ann Rainey's perceived bias that I have toward the 8th Ward, it's 'Let's pick the two cheapest alleys that meet this requirement.' We aren't running a surplus right now," Suffredin said, referencing the city's looming budget deficit. "It's 1:00 in the morning. Staff can't justify why these two alleys were picked because they had the wrong criteria. Let's save the people of Evanston $90,000 and still accomplish an infrastructure goal and still leverage these potential grants."

As other aldermen bemoaned the lack of time to review the details of the grant application, Rainey said the matter was only being debated because it was in her ward.

"If these two alleys had been in the 5th Ward or the 2nd Ward, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Rainey said.

"That's such bull---, Ann" Suffredin responded, as other aldermen gasped. "Yes, yes, be shocked."

"Nothing good happens after midnight," said Ald. Peter Braithwaite, 2nd Ward.

"Everything you do is subject to scrutiny," Suffredin told Rainey, "Because you are sketchy as f---."

"Oh, no," Braithwaite said.

"I stand behind everything I just said," Suffredin said.

After a moment of confusion, other aldermen tried to move on and call a vote in order to wrap up the meeting, which had been going on for close to five hours, not counting committee meetings. Rainey was not ready to ignore what had just happened.

"I think you should sanction this alderman. That was outrageous. I don't care if it's 3 o'clock. You should sanction him and ask him to leave the room or apologize," Rainey asked 1st Ward Ald. Judy Fiske, who was serving as mayor pro tem for the evening.

"I hope that he would have the good sense to do that on his own," Fiske said.

"No, no, that's not enough. I demand more," Rainey said.

"I stand by what I said," said Suffredin.

"Well, you're an unfortunate human being," responded Rainey.

"That's very hurtful," Suffredin said.

After Fiske asked whether it was worth having legal staff explain the process for censuring members of council, Rainey agreed to "move on, because he's not worth it."

Afterwards, members of the council suggested the matter of profanity and insulting remarks toward fellow council members was likely to be on the agenda at a future meeting of the Rules Committee.

Rainey declined further comment on the exchange.

Suffredin responded Tuesday morning:

"While I regret my use of profanity, I stand behind what I said. Alderman Rainey treats public money as if it is her own to spend as she pleases," he told Patch. "City staff and some of my colleagues may be willing to indulge this behavior. I am not."