DeKalb City Council voted 6-2 Monday night not to overturn DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen’s Sept. 22 decision to remove John Guio as chairman of the Plan Commission.

Povlsen removed Guio for violating the code of ethics when he voted at a Sept. 15 Plan Commission meeting on the possible expansion of Hope Haven.

The violation came from the beginning of the meeting, when Guio made it known his wife is a Hope Haven board member.

When voting took place later on, he decided to vote as a way to break a 2-2 tie.

Povlsen said at the Council meeting that the decision for removal didn’t come easy for him but it had to be done.

“This was one of the most unpleasant decisions I had to make,” Povlsen said. “But as unpleasant of a decision, I couldn’t shirk my duty as mayor to uphold the code of ethics.”

Before the Council made their decision, a few members had some contrasting views on whether Guio was in the wrong.

First Ward Alderman Bertrand Simpson, who was in attendance at the Sept. 15 meeting, wanted Guio’s removal overturned.

“He probably felt he was trying to do the right thing in a difficult situation,” Simpson said. “He didn’t do anything illegal. He made an err of judgement.”

Third Ward Alderwoman Pamela Verbic, who also attended the Sept. 15 meeting, saw things differently than Simpson.

“You can’t have someone who shouldn’t have voted sway a vote one way or another,” Verbic said.

Simpson  said he felt when making a decision regarding violating code of ethics, there should be certain degrees pertaining to it.

“Aren’t there degrees of sins?” He asked. “Aren’t there degrees of murder? Aren’t there degrees of sweetness?”

Verbic said ethics is something that should apply to all jobs.

“In my other job at an insurance company, we have to take an ethics test once a year,” Verbic said. “If I commit one of those errors mentioned in the test, I’d lose my job.”