There will be three advisory questions on DuPage County’s November ballot, but two notable questions did not make the cut.
Those that will be included are:
- Shall DuPage County continue to consider financial support of law enforcement and public safety its top budgeting priority?
- In order to fight the spread of COVID-19, shall DuPage County obtain a stockpile of personal protective equipment for distribution to nursing homes, first responders, health care providers, and at-risk communities who are not otherwise able to obtain personal protective equipment?
- Shall DuPage County continue to fund and support training methods that decrease the risk of injury to officers and suspects for local law enforcement agencies?
Since the questions are advisory, they are meant to gauge the public’s opinion on the subjects and are non-binding. The board voted 13-5 to add the questions to the ballot.
Questions That Will Not Be on Ballot
Two questions that will not be on the ballot are if the county board size should be reduced from 18 members to 12, and if the Recorder’s Office duties should merge with the County Clerk’s Office by the end of November in 2022.
Recorder And Clerk’s Office Merger
The latter of the two questions was binding and originally slated to be on the ballot. It was thought that merging the two offices would save the county money, but a study by MGT Consulting Group did not find that.
The report said “merging the two offices in DuPage County could ultimately provide for more efficient provision of service, but just combining the staff of the two offices will not make the operations more efficient or save the County hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.”
After learning what the report found board members voted 11-7 to remove the question off the ballot.
Reduction Of County Board
Reducing the size of the county’s board has been an idea members have advocated for years, and it could save the county $312,000 in salaries. But some felt savings were not black and white.
“There would on the surface be an initial savings of approximately $300,000 if we were to eliminate one position per district, said board member Ashley Selmon. “But I want to make it clear that’s a ceiling in savings and not sort of a maximum…The body of work ranges between 45 hours 60 hours a week. If we were to split that among two members you could argue that’s no longer a part time job and a salary adjustment would need to made.”
Other board members argued that if the board size were to downsize it could cause a lack of diversity. The question did not have receive enough votes to keep it on the ballot with an 8-10 final vote.
Naperville News 17’s Christian Canizal reports.
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