The DuPage County Board tabled a discussion over an amendment to the board’s meeting schedule for the coming year, after some members felt blindsided by the suddenness of the vote.
As the board went to vote on the 2024 board meeting schedule, county board member Dawn DeSart requested an amendment to hold two evening meetings for DuPage County residents unable to attend the Tuesday morning meetings.
“We have people who work day jobs and can’t take time out to come to a 10 o’clock meeting,” DeSart said during the Oct. 10 meeting.
Desert requested meetings on May 28 and Nov. 12 be held at 6 p.m. in order to accommodate those members of the community who cannot normally attend.
While many members expressed a desire to hold an evening meeting to test the waters, some on the board did not approve of how the decision seemed to be sprung on them, and asked to table voting on the amendment till Oct. 24.
“I wish this wasn’t sprung on me,” member Cindy Cahill said during the meeting.
Lucy Chang Evans opposed the motion from the start citing concerns about county staff having to stay late into the evening.
“As a former DuPage County employee it is extremely onerous for anybody with children to have to deal with,” Evans said.
The board had tried to host evening meetings in the past but with low turnout, board member Elizabeth Chaplin said.
However, Chaplin, who has served on the DuPage County board for nearly 12 years, expressed approval toward reintroducing evening meetings. “Maybe it’s time to try it again, because a lot of things have changed with COVID,” she said. “Some of our employees could participate, a lot of them do participate via Zoom.”
When it came time to vote on whether or not to table the motion the board was split 8 to 8 leaving the final decision to board chair Deborah Conroy.
Conroy voted to delay the discussion until Tuesday, Oct. 24, expressing.
“This is a tough one for me, I do believe that we should have an evening meeting, but also believe that procedurally everybody should have the information they need before we take a vote,” Conroy said. “I think everybody is basically in support of [an evening meeting], but I want my board members to all have the information they need.”
