DUPAGE RAISES SHOW ‘SWEEPING CHANGE’ NEEDED
The Democrat-led DuPage County Board just increased the board chair’s pay from $136,959 to $185,000 (36.1% raise).
The Democrat-led Forest Preserve District of DuPage County Board just increased the board president’s pay from $75,000 to $114,503 (52.7% raise).
The chairman position is pensionable and historically both positions are not considered full time.
What was your raise this year? How’d the real estate tax bill that you just received look?
The spending taking place by our local taxing bodies is completely unsustainable and voting to continue it because you don’t like President Trump is a great way to get the value of your house obliterated.
We need sweeping political change and now. Vote red and let’s put our county on a stronger path!
Kevin Coyne, Naperville
Chairman, Dupage GOP
PROPOSED CITY ORDINANCE DOESN’T SUPERSEDE FED LAW
Over the past several weeks, Naperville residents have engaged in passionate public discussion regarding the proposed Due Process and Municipal Property Ordinance. Much of that discussion has centered on legality, constitutionality and whether the city has the authority to adopt such a policy.
The recently released city staff report provided important clarification.
It acknowledged that the ordinance is legally defensible as an exercise of the city’s authority over municipal property and resources. It further recognized established constitutional principles, including that local governments are not required to use local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement activities. Importantly, the report also acknowledged that the ordinance does not prevent lawful federal immigration enforcement and explicitly permits access pursuant to valid judicial warrants and court orders.
That distinction matters.
Federal law remains the supreme law of the land. The proposed ordinance does not override federal law, interfere with lawful federal enforcement activity or attempt to change immigration law. Rather, the ordinance focuses specifically on how municipal property and resources may be used at the local level in the context of civil immigration enforcement activities.
At its core, this ordinance is about whether Naperville believes clear, transparent and consistent public policy guidance regarding municipal property and resources is important.
The ordinance would clarify that city-owned property should not be designated as staging areas for civil immigration enforcement activities. It would also establish documentation and reporting procedures involving city property while remaining compliant with federal and state law.
Some have suggested that internal guidance, training or administrative practices alone may be sufficient. Those efforts are certainly important. However, many residents believe those efforts are strongest when supported by clear and publicly accessible policy. Formal policy creates transparency, consistency and accountability across departments and over time, including through future leadership transitions.
This ordinance was never intended to function as the sole solution to broader community concerns. Communication, public education, staff training and continued community engagement are all necessary parts of a broader approach. But formal policy can help provide the framework and public clarity needed to support those efforts effectively.
Public trust depends on accurate information and thoughtful public dialogue. Unfortunately, portions of the public conversation surrounding this ordinance have created confusion by suggesting that the proposal somehow attempts to supersede federal authority. It does not. Residents deserve clear and accurate information regarding what this ordinance does and does not do.
It is possible to respect federal authority, support constitutional rights and establish clear local policy at the same time.
The Naperville City Council is expected to continue discussion of the staff report and proposed ordinance at its 7 p.m. May 19 meeting. The item is currently listed as the final item on the agenda, meaning discussion will occur later in the evening depending on the length of earlier agenda items.
I encourage residents to remain informed, review the staff report and proposed ordinance for themselves, and participate thoughtfully in the public process.
Lili Burciaga, Naperville
President, Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs (ALMAS)
MAYOR’S LETTER CONTRADICTS CITY COUNCIL’S ACTION
Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli recently posted a video opposing the Illinois BUILD Act, which would allow up to eight housing units per residential lot without a public hearing or council vote. “Naperville earned its character through decades of careful planning and real community spirit,” he said. “We can’t let Springfield set that aside.”
We agree completely. Which is why what happened at Benton and Main — less than two months ago — deserves a closer look.
In February, the Naperville City Council approved 11 townhome units on a site the city’s own staff memo confirms is zoned for a maximum of nine. The project received six deviations from every applicable Transitional Use zoning standard — height, density, setbacks, rear yard coverage — all authorized through a Planned Unit Development designation that required genuine public amenities as its legal foundation.
What were those amenities? One parkway planter — reduced from six after the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing through months of private negotiations between city staff and the developer’s attorney never disclosed at any public hearing. Permeable paver driveways — a mandatory stormwater requirement, not a public benefit. Replacement saplings for the mature trees the developer removed from the site before filing the petition — and for three 40-foot parkway trees still standing today that are scheduled for removal during construction.
The mayor presided over that vote. The Transitional Use zoning district at Benton and Main was specifically designed to prevent exactly this kind of overcrowding — a carefully regulated buffer between downtown intensity and quiet residential neighborhoods. Its protections were set aside entirely, over the objections of every immediately adjacent neighbor, who asked only that the city enforce its own rules.
The mayor’s video asks Naperville residents to trust the city to protect their neighborhoods from Springfield. The neighbors at Benton and Main asked the same thing — and were told no.
The BUILD Act would allow eight units on a Naperville residential lot. The city just approved 11 — on a site zoned for nine — through a process Freedom of Information Act documents show was conducted largely through private emails, with the final design change approved 34 minutes before the council vote.
The city wants to protect Naperville’s neighborhoods from Springfield overreach. Apparently it does not apply the same standard to itself.
Julie Carducci and Chris Carlsen, Naperville
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