Considering the way Aurora spreads over parts of four counties, Kane County, the only one mandated to cover the lion’s share of the costs to run the city’s Election Commission, is seeking a legislative fix to require the others to pay up.
Prompted by the Kane County Board’s Public Service Committee, the state’s attorney’s office is expected to confer soon with the Illinois attorney general’s office about ways to get Will and Kendall Counties directly involved in funding the Aurora Election Commission.
As it stands, the commission has jurisdiction over election matters covering the city’s 68 precincts that fall within Kane, Will and Kendall Counties.
About 30 Aurora precincts within DuPage County fall under the jurisdiction of the DuPage County Election Commission.
State law requires Kane County to pay about 75 percent, or roughly $300,000, of the 67-year-old Aurora commission’s annual budget, with the city picking up the balance.
The peculiar division of responsibility results in some Aurora residents being taxed by both the county and the city for election services, according to Kane County Board member Bill Wyatt (R-Aurora). Other commission critics, like board member Don Rage (R-Sleepy Hollow) question why Will and Kendall Counties aren’t paying their fair share of the commission’s costs.
In addition to having 65 precincts and about 44,000 registered voters in Kane County, the Aurora commission has jurisdiction over two precincts and about 2,000 registered voters in Will County and one precinct and nearly 700 voters in Kendall County, according to assistant director Martha Ryan.
“Something isn’t right here,” Rage says.
No comparable situation exists anywhere in Illinois and changing it “is going to require some legislation,” Ryan said.
“There is nothing to cover this situation,” she said.
In 1999, the Kane County Board passed a resolution seeking to place a referendum on the March 2000 ballot that, if approved, would have dissolved the Aurora commission. But according to Wyatt, who spearheaded the move, an effort to collect the voters’ signatures to put the issue to referendum fizzled. Aurora Mayor David Stover vehemently opposed the effort.
Tag team: Wheaton Mayor Jim Carr has announced plans to run for re-election in 2003.
The only other person who had said he would run for the office, Wheaton Councilman Grant Eckhoff, has filed to run for DuPage County Board.
Eckhoff, 42, has been a council member since 1989. He announced late last year that he had planned to run for mayor in 2003 at the same time that he kicked off his successful campaign for re-election to a four-year council term representing Wheaton’s West District.
With Carr ending months of speculation that he would step down as mayor, Eckhoff filed on Monday to run in the March GOP primary for one of three seats in the County Board’s District 4. Eckhoff is an attorney and 36-year Wheaton resident.
“Jim’s a friend, and I respect him and I admire him and I think he’s done a good job,” Eckhoff said of Carr. “I don’t want there to be any divisions on the council. We’ve worked together as a team for a long time and I want to see that continue,” Eckhoff said.
“I want to see us work to articulate an agenda for District 4,” Eckhoff said. “I also want to see us try to reach out to other districts and other units of government. I’m not taking a knock at anyone else on the board that they can’t do it, but it’s clear that I have been able to do it for almost 13 years.”
Carr, 52, has been mayor since 1993 and a Wheaton resident for 27 years. The owner, president and chief executive officer of Carol Stream-based Produce Reporter Inc. and a part-time instructor at Wheaton College, Carr said he would like another term to complete the council’s work on revitalizing Wheaton’s downtown.
There are no other candidates for mayor so far.
Surprise! In what was akin to an in-house coup, the legislative committee and board of directors of the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference reports that it “successfully surprised” departing executive director Lynn Montei last month with the group’s 2001 Governmental Leader of the Year Award.
Montei, 51, who announced in September that she plans to leave her post early next year, was cited for “her consistent dedication to, and advocacy for, municipal interests, along with the many other contributions she has made to the conference.”
Montei has been the group’s executive director for 15 years.
A search committee is working to hire a replacement for Montei, and she has agreed to stay through the transition.
