The way the referendum is worded, specified by State statute, is guaranteed to confuse people. There's an implication McHenry County would go "Home Rule" unless it OK's an elected County Executive. That would probably be anathema to most McHenry County voters since Home Rule would lift the cap on property tax increases. A young McHenry County attorney who shall remain nameless decided to vote early last week. He'd boned up on the pros and cons of an elected County Executive but when he read the actual question including the part about Home Rule, "I had to stop and think really hard about it," he said.
Bottom line, there's another County Executive referendum formulation that calls for a change to Home Rule but this one isn't it. As far as that's concerned, it doesn't matter if the referendum passes or not.
If it passes, however, it doesn't necessarily mean the Chairman of the McHenry County Board will be done away with. A legal analysis of the referendum two months ago by Assistant State's Attorney Jana Blake Dickson included an adverb lawyers don't usually use. "The position of chairman would presumably (emphasis added) be eliminated," she wrote. "Well, (if the referendum passes) there won't be much left for him to do," Dickson told FEN. An examination of Board Rules show's he'd still be Ex-officio County Liquor Commissioner, for instance.
There's only one model for what happens when a County adopts the elected County Executive form of government. In 1988 Will County did it but the county still retains a County Board Chairman. FEN tried to ask the current Chairman what he does in Will County but Jim Moustis didn't return calls.
Dickson used "presumably" a second time in her analysis. The Illinois Governing Bodies statute gives an elected County Executive the power to appoint persons to serve on boards and commissions and special districts with the "advice and consent" of the County Board. However, in a Fun Facts-style footnote, Dickson observed, "There is no statutory definition for the term 'advice and consent of the board'." Dickson added that the Board would "presumably" have to come up with one.
8 comments:
I'm voting YES!!!!
Me too.. the Koehler/Nygren/Zinke regime has to stop....
the Koehler/Nygren/Zinke regime has to stop....
Because the Franks/Madigan/Chicago democrat regime would be better?
I too was surprised by the Home Rule question. How did that slip in there?
So, if you vote "No", does that mean
1. You don't want a County Executive but
2. You DO want Home Rule?
"Shall the County of McHenry ... elect not to become a home rule unit?"
Who was responsible for the wording of the question?
Will this McHenry County Executive referendum pass? Given it's a presidential election with the highest possible voter turnout, I think it will pass. The McHenry County Republicans have made a strong case being proponents for this change. The streamlined government, ending the county administrator position and placing those duties under the direction of the McHenry County Executive, elected by and working for the people must be welcome news. The opponents have run a very inept race, and voters will vote their pocketbooks.
While it is a given the appointed county administrator will be history once a County Executive is elected in 2014, if the Will County example is followed in McHenry County, looks like there will be a county board chairman who will have exclusive control over the legislative business of the county board. Apart from chairing the monthly county board meeting, the County Executive has very limited legislative powers.
Another reason the County Executive referendum will pass.
For Gus: What it comes down to is the "Home Rule" part of the referendum is irrelevant. Just vote for or against the County Exec and don't worry about the rest of it. (The godawful phrasing is prescribed by law.)--ed.
Re the Oncoming Storm's comment that the county executive will have little legislative power -- WRONG. The county executive has the power to veto any ordinance or resolution passed by the county board. It takes a 3/5's majority vote to override the county executive's veto.
That is a very strong legislative power being given to one person.
I'm amazed at all the "shuckin' & jivin'" going on. Of course the language is confusing - that's intentional to fool us, the voting public, and sneak one past us. If the idea was truly sound and reasonable, wouldn't a straight-forward, honest approach be the way to get this passed? When these politicians roll out the legalese dictionary, 99 times out of 100 it's to put one over on the public. This clearly is one of those 99 times that's driven by reasons far beyond common sense approach to governing.
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