At the latest DuPage County Board Meeting, the group discussed whether they should reduce its size from 18 to 12.
Jim Healy, who represents District 5, has been a longtime believer of decreasing the number of county board members, and wants residents to decide if they should or not on a referendum on the November ballot.
“As you may know a county board has the authority on its own to reduce the size of the county board starting this time in 2022,” said Healy. “However I am certain all of you will agree a change like this that affects our residents’ representation on this board should be voted on also by our residents.”
No Ballot Necessary According To Board Member
Mary FitzGerald Ozog, who represents District 4, agreed with Healy that the board size should be reduced, but doesn’t think it should be put to the voters.
“We do not need a referendum,” said Ozog. “We’re going to simply clog up this issue…I think we can assume that less government is certainly better.”
More Pressing Issues
In 2002 the board size went from 24 to 18, and the thought of decreasing the number even more has been brought up over the years. However some board members feel right now the county should be focusing on other issues.
“We should be talking more about opening the economy and COVID than we should be talking about reducing the size of our board,” said Peter DiCianni from District 2. “If it was coming from the people and they did their petition drive and they wanted to get it on the ballot God bless. But for us to try to preempt a vote, non-binding, I think it’s political.
Going from 18 to 12 board members could potentially save the county more than $300,000, though some board members question that number.
The board plans to further discuss the topic in future meetings.
Naperville News 17’s Christian Canizal reports.
If you have a story idea or news tip you want to share, we want to hear from you!
