Maverick members of the Lake County Board are vowing to continue holding public meetings in their districts despite warnings that doing so would waste county resources and may violate board rules.
“This isn’t `Mother, may I,’ ” board member Judy Martini (R-Antioch) said after being criticized for holding a public hearing on a dangerous intersection in her district–over the objections of board leaders.
“As a public servant, it is my responsibility to address district issues,” Martini said during Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting of the County Board in Waukegan.
Martini’s comments, which were echoed by several other board members who do not hold leadership positions, came after board Chairman Robert L. Grever (R-Kildeer) announced he was seeking a clarification of the board’s rules governing public meetings.
Grever said he believed the clarification would show that County Board members should seek approval from board leaders before organizing such meetings.
Such a step, Grever said, would create a more efficient system for sharing information with the public while saving the county money. County employees sometimes are required to attend such meetings and then are paid overtime.
“We’re not trying to stifle anyone,” Grever said. “We’re just trying to maximize our resources.”
Grever asked the Lake County state’s attorney’s office to study the board’s rules after board member Robert P. Neal (R-Wadsworth) complained about Martini’s public meeting.
About 80 people from Martini’s district attended the forum to discuss planned improvements at the intersection of Illinois Highway 59 and Grass Lake Road in Antioch Township.
Neal, who is chairman of the board committee that handles transportation issues, was irked because Martini asked staff members from the county’s Highway Department and sheriff’s office and the Illinois Department of Transportation to attend.
That decision, Neal said, not only duplicated actions taken by his Public Service Committee but also potentially threatened agreements already in place to improve the intersection by widening it and installing new traffic signals.
“Our concern is we need to better manage our resources,” Neal said, adding that his committee had “bent over backward” to inform the public about the planned improvements.
But Martini and others said it would be unfair to deny them the opportunity to hold public meetings using county resources.
“We’re going to continue to meet with our constituency, and we need to,” said board member Diana O’Kelly (R-Mundelein). “And we’re going to continue to call in staff to get the job done.”
Board member Martha Marks (R-Riverside) also questioned whether the clarification of the board’s rules was really a clarification or a change in the rules instead.
Amending the board’s rules would be much more difficult than simply clarifying them because it would require approval from a three-fifths majority of the 23-member board.
Since Grever became chairman last December, he has clashed frequently with the nine board members who did not receive leadership positions under his administration.
The nine, all of whom are Republicans, frequently are joined by the board’s five Democrats in supporting the same agenda.
But the Democrats have remained the wild card on the most controversial issues facing the board.
Grever gave several Democrats leadership roles in hopes of forming consensus. Yet the Democrats have remained relatively independent when it comes to voting on important issues.
Grever conceded that given the board’s current political makeup, it would be difficult to get a three-fifths majority of members to agree on any controversial proposal.
