Miller Cancels August 4th Meeting — Quorum Excuse Falls Apart

FREEPORT, IL – August 12, 2025

On August 4, 2025, Freeport residents were told — just hours before start time — that their City Council meeting was canceled “due to lack of quorum.” That might sound procedural, but when you pull back the curtain, the picture is far uglier. The cancellation came after revelations of another questionable City Hall deal, and under freshly passed rules designed to silence dissent, consolidate power, and punish political opponents — rules Mayor Jodi Miller and her allies are now refusing to follow themselves.

The Power Grab: Ordinance 2025-37

On June 16, 2025, the Miller administration and her council majority pushed through Ordinance 2025-37, amending Title Four, Chapter 220 (“Rules of Council” and “Council Committees”).

Key changes included:

  • Section 220.10(8) Quorum — explicitly made the Mayor part of the quorum and subject to the same absence rules and fines as Alderpersons.

  • Section 220.10(25) Violating Rules — created fines up to $250 for members failing to follow these rules.

  • Section 220.10(2) Time & Place / Cancellation Powers — gave the Mayor, City Manager, or a majority of council the ability to cancel meetings.

  • Section 220.10(15) Frequency of Speaking — limited speaking time to two minutes unless a majority votes otherwise.

Mayor Miller defended these changes as “efficiency” measures. In reality, they stripped the minority on council — the Democrats, the east siders, the black people — of their ability to bring forward business without permission from the majority.

The Scandal They Didn’t Want to Discuss

The August 4 meeting was set to be the first public session after Fighting4Freeport exposed that Community & Economic Development Director Wayne Duckmann resigned his position — only to immediately sign a lucrative consulting contract with the City. The deal, quietly arranged by City Manager Rob Boyer, mirrors the city’s sweetheart contract with Fehr Graham and was executed with no public vetting.

Rather than face the public and answer questions, the meeting was canceled at the eleventh hour.

FOIA Results: The “Lack of Quorum” Story Collapses

Following the cancellation, Fighting4Freeport filed a FOIA request to City Clerk Dovie Anderson seeking all official communications from council members and the Mayor explaining their inability to attend.

The response? Only one person — 1st Ward Alderman Tom Klemm — submitted any notice.
On June 19, 2025, Klemm emailed the clerk that he would be out of town and wanted to attend remotely. Clerk Anderson correctly informed him that under the Illinois Open Meetings Act, remote attendance is only permitted for specific reasons (illness, employment, or family emergency) — vacation is not one of them.

No other council member, including Mayor Miller, provided any official notice of absence.

The Math Doesn’t Work

Under Section 220.10(8) as amended, a quorum is a majority of the entire City Council — now including the Mayor. That means five members must be absent to legitimately cancel a meeting for lack of quorum.

With only one documented absence, the legal basis for canceling the August 4 meeting collapses. And under the same section, any member (including the Mayor) who fails to attend without a reasonable reason is subject to a $100 fine.

Selective Enforcement: One Rule for Them, Another for Everyone Else

This is the heart of the problem:

  • Miller and her majority passed rules in June explicitly to fine and punish absences — particularly aimed at the minority bloc of Democrats.

  • When those same rules would apply to Miller’s own majority, suddenly the ordinance is ignored.

  • The lack of written absence notices suggests this cancellation was not about a genuine lack of quorum, but about avoiding public accountability over the Duckmann contract.

Pattern of Avoidance

August 4 wasn’t an isolated incident. Under Miller’s leadership, council meetings have been canceled, delayed, or stripped of controversial topics whenever public pressure mounts. But this one stands out because:

  1. It directly followed public exposure of a secret city contract.

  2. It happened under new rules supposedly written to ensure accountability.

  3. Those rules are now being broken by the very people who wrote them.

The Questions Freeport Deserves Answered

  1. Which members of council, including Mayor Miller, were absent on August 4 without notice?

  2. Will they fine themselves under Section 220.10(8), as the ordinance requires?

  3. Was this cancellation a legitimate procedural necessity — or a politically motivated dodge?

Until these questions are answered, “lack of quorum” will read less like an official reason and more like an orchestrated excuse.