SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – “I’m here to thank everyone who voted for the landlord registry,” Diane Shaw said during this week’s city council meeting. “We did it. We did it!” she added to applause.

Voters solidly approved the non-binding referendum, though Shaw may not have fully understood the “non-binding” part of that.

“Now that the people have spoken,” said Shaw, who described herself as being both a landlord and a tenant, “I am looking forward to seeing that the mayor take charge and make sure she brings all stakeholders together.”

Actually, Mayor Misty Buscher is unlikely to take charge of anything related to implementing a landlord registry. “The mayor didn’t put the work in to get this passed,” said Ald. Roy Williams, a political opponent of Buscher. “The mayor fought this. We will come together. We will. The mayor may have a role in this later on in our process that the people are going to do.

“To pass this out as (something) the mayor initiates? No.”

Williams added the proposed landlord registry is likely something for the election winners of April 2027 to consider.