Cronin wants more oversight over DuPage agencies

Two recent financial scandals involving DuPage County agencies have the county’s top elected official admitting he has no way of knowing if another controversy is brewing elsewhere.

“I go to bed at night thinking, ‘What’s next?’” county board Chairman Dan Cronin said Tuesday. “I don’t know what’s going on out there.”

Cronin, who took office in January after serving as a state Senator, is hoping Illinois lawmakers will help him change that. He’s seeking a measure that would give county boards oversight for the boards and commissions they appoint.

If the idea becomes a reality, such previously independent agencies would be required to report back to county boards on a regular basis.

Cronin said he believes the DuPage County Board should have authority to review the contracts for top staff members and purchasing procedures at such agencies. The agencies also should be required to inform the county board “the moment any major financial or mismanagement issues arise,” he said.

That didn’t happen when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued two audits critical of the DuPage Housing Authority. The reports, issued in September 2009 and June 2010, concluded the Wheaton-based authority mismanaged funds and inappropriately administered its Section 8 project-based voucher program.

Cronin said he wasn’t aware of the audits until last month when he received a letter from HUD indicating the housing authority could owe the federal government more than $10.7 million. Last week, the authority’s longtime executive director, John Day, resigned and his deputy retired after Cronin demanded their ouster.

Meanwhile, the DuPage Water Commission was revamped because of a reform measure Cronin pushed in Springfield. It was a response to the commission accidentally spending $69 million in reserves through poor accounting practices and lackadaisical financial oversight.

“These circumstances do not represent the kind of accountable, responsible and transparent government that all of us in this room work for — and that our taxpayers deserve,” Cronin said to county board members during their regular meeting.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “I think it’s time to step in and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Cronin said he already has talked to state lawmakers and is working to draft the measure that would give the board “the tools to carefully examine what’s going on.”

“We are charged with the responsibility of nominating and voting on people who serve on these various boards and commissions,” Cronin said. “But there doesn’t seem to be an appropriate mechanism for those boards and commissions to report back to us to offer transparency and full disclosure.”

Cronin said he and the county board are responsible for appointing nearly 240 people to about four dozen different boards and commissions. They include fire protection districts, sanitary districts and mosquito abatement districts.

Meanwhile, Cronin said he and several county board members are “carefully reviewing” whether any members of the housing authority board should be replaced.

While the DHA board has been “responsive” by facilitating Day’s departure and appointing an interim executive director, Cronin said it’s “disappointing” the panel didn’t make him aware of the HUD audits.

“What we learned about this problem was from the HUD office,” Cronin said. “It’s a disturbing distinction.”