Urbana ordinance would bar the mayor from voting in Committee of the Whole
The change would restore a 2019 sentence that a later rewrite dropped.
URBANA - A proposed ordinance would write into city code that Urbana's mayor does not vote in the City Council's Committee of the Whole, according to the agenda packet for Monday's committee meeting.
Ordinance 2026-10-027, listed on the agenda under council member Evans, amends Section 2-28 of the city code. The memo says four former city officials wrote to the council in May after the mayor was asked to cast a tie-breaking vote at a May 18 committee meeting. City Attorney Matt Roeschley found the code did not describe the mayor's role and concluded the mayor may vote.
The memo says the council added the sentence "The mayor is a nonvoting member of the committee and is not counted for the purpose of determining a quorum" in September 2019. A December 2019 ordinance that swapped council and committee meeting weeks left that sentence out. The new ordinance would put it back.
Source: City of Urbana Committee of the Whole agenda packet, Oct. 5, 2026, Item F4.