You detect a trend: Ald. Roy Williams is opposed to many of Mayor Misty Buscher’s proposals, voting Present or No on some of them, including the appointment of Ald. Lakeisha Purchase to the plan commission.

“I don’t want to talk about my reason for not voting for it now, but it is important, and I am asking (if) this can … wait until next time, because she may want to withdraw her name,” said Williams.

“I am not going to want to withdraw,” Purchase responded, “but you just said something to me (this evening) but I’m fine with holding it, so you can speak to me privately about it.”

Talk in private they did, as the mayor took the rare step of recessing the meeting so Williams and Purchase could hash it out. Alleged violations against Purchase’s rental property were a campaign issue, a problem she blamed on a former spouse. The appointment passed despite opposition from Williams and another alderman, Shawn Gregory. Asked about all this afterward, the mayor said it’s just politics.

Williams, joined by Gregory and Ald. Larry Rockford, voted Present on Buscher’s nomination of James Sullivan to run the city’s information technology department, as Williams said Sullivan, a longtime city employee, should provide a resume.

And an appointment up for a final vote in July did not escape Williams’ scrutiny. He said the choice of former Ald. Kristin DiCenso to chair the liquor commission is a problem, citing a provision – enforced years before against another former council member – of a three-year waiting period for council members to join such boards. The mayor said the corporation counsel will look into it.