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QUINCY, ILL. -- Quincy School Board President Bud Niekamp told the board Wednesday night that he would not resign his office. He drafted a formal letter to the board. Click here to read Bud Niekamp's letter to the Board. 

But the board voted to curtail his presidential powers.

You'll recall board members issued a letter to Niekamp late last week asking him to resign. Click here to read that letter.
 
The board said if Niekamp resigned, it would appoint him to a board vacancy.

At the top of the meeting, Niekamp gave a letter to the school board secretary, which stated he would not step down.

The Quincy School Board voted 6 to 1 to dissolve the committees...and voted 6 to 1 to limit Niekamp's duties as president.

KHQA's Rajah Maples spoke with Niekamp shortly after that vote Wednesday night.

Niekamp said, "They didn't do anything they haven't done before. It doesn't concern me that much. If I need information and they won't give it to me, I'll just ask for it under Freedom of Information like I did this week."

You might recall Glen Bemis stepped down as president last summer for personal reasons. Niekamp was serving as vice president at the time, so he became president. KHQA's Rajah Maples also caught up with Bemis to find out if he has any regrets.

If you could do things over again, would you? Bemis said, "No, I wouldn't change anything. When you make a decision, you stick with it and move on."

Wednesday night's meeting was much calmer than the meeting last July when Niekamp first became president.

Earlier this week, we spoke with school district attorney Dennis Gorman about what duties Niekamp would still have after Wednesday's meeting.

Those are:

Preside at all meetings;

Serve as chairperson of the Education Officers Electoral Board which hears challenges to School Board Candidate nominating petitions;

Sign official District documents  requiring the President's signature, including Board minutes and Certificate of Tax Levy;

Review appeals of record access requests that were denied;

Call special meetings of the Board;

Ensure that a quorum of the Board is physically present at all Board meetings.

We also confirmed these duties would remain with the Illinois State Board of Education.

Duties that would be removed:

Make all Board committee appointments;

Be permitted to attend and observie any meeting of a Board committee;

Represent the Board on other boards or agencies;

Administer the oath of office to new Board members;

Serve as the Board's official spokesperson to the media.