Expecting that disagreements between the DuPage County Forest Preserve Commission and the County Board might be tougher to reconcile once the two bodies are separated, the commission took a step Tuesday to formalize dispute resolution.
At its last regular meeting before a new Forest Preserve Commission is sworn in next month, commissioners voted to create a joint committee on disputes with the County Board.
Opponents charged that such a committee creates needless rules in place of common sense and cooperation. Still, the measure passed 16-6.
Seven new forest preserve commissioners were elected earlier this month. Before, the commission was composed of the members of the County Board, as it is in every other Illinois county. But DuPage politicians lobbied for a state law that created a separately elected Forest Preserve Commission to avoid conflicts of interest.
Commissioner John Noel, who spearheaded the effort to create the dispute-resolution committee, said the county and the Forest Preserve District have never been on opposite sides of a lawsuit. “But that’s when we were basically one board. Now that we’re two, each board will take a more parochial view of its role,” Noel said.
Other commissioners put it more bluntly.
“Absolutely, there will be a lawsuit,” said Commissioner James Healy, who voted for the committee. “Some commissioners were taking bets on how long it would be before the first one is filed.”
The committee would tackle disputes over land use when the district and the county’s land are adjacent to one another. It also would cover disputes about the terms of intergovernmental agreements between the county and the district.
Agreements that allow a forest preserve bike path to be built on county property might not clearly spell out who is responsible for maintaining the path, for instance.
“I think this just adds layers of bureaucracy instead of [County Board Chairman] Robert Schillerstrom and [Forest Preserve Commission President] Dewey Pierotti getting on the phone and getting the commissioners involved to work it out,” said Commissioner Gwen Henry, who voted against the committee.
Five other commissioners also voted against the committee — Roger Kotecki, Patrick O’Shea, Michael Formento, Linda Hilbert and Edward Merkel.
Henry and Kotecki will serve on the new commission beginning Dec. 2 along with Pierotti and Wally Brown, who voted in favor of the committee.
The outcome is not expected to change in the coming weeks when the same people — this time acting as the County Board — take up the issue.
Under the proposed rules, Schillerstrom and Pierotti would be the only people who could convene the committee. Each would select two commissioners and two staff members specifically for each dispute. The eight-member committee would then draft a resolution and vote on it.
If they fail to reach an agreement, the county and the district must then go through a mediator before they could take the dispute to court.
Also on Tuesday, the commission approved a two-year contract with Mike Buros Enterprises to operate the pro shop and golf concessions at district-owned Oak Meadows in Addison.
