Mayor David Brummel of Warrenville, Mayor Joe Broda of Lisle, Mayor Gina Cunningham of Woodridge and Mayor Steve Chirico of Naperville all came together to denounce petitions that were filed with DuPage County that seek to get a question regarding annexation on the April 4 ballot.
“It’s our belief that the court will find that these petitions are not valid and they will be rejected. Speaking for Warrenville and its citizens, we have no interest in this proposal. Merging our communities offers no benefits, would be very costly, and complicated with negative impacts. Indeed this is a waste of resources that could be better allocated,” said Brummel.
Filed by an anonymous source, the petitions seek to have residents vote on annexing Lisle, Warrenville and Woodridge into Naperville. Something all four mayors are against.
“Each of the communities that are here represented are independent communities, we’re thriving and that’s the way we want to stay,” said Cunningham.
“Warrenville, Lisle, Woodridge and Naperville, each one of our communities have unique characteristics that set them out from each other. We are unique, we’re different, but we have one thing in common, we work together collectively for the common good of our residents,” said Broda.
Formal objections to the petitions were filed with the DuPage County Court in an effort to keep the annexation question off the ballot.
“In the case where we have signatures collected in Woodridge, Lisle and Warrenville, and even though those are questionable signatures from an anonymous source, collected by people, many of which were from outside our communities, Naperville did not have any signatures, there were none. None were passed and yet this would be asked to be put on a Naperville ballot,” said Chirico.
The mayors also questioned the validity of many of the signatures on the petitions.
A judge must rule on the petition before January 26, as all ballots must be finalized by then.
Naperville News 17’s Evan Summers reports.
