Kane County Board to vote on keeping all 26 seats

As the Kane County Board’s redistricting task force toils along on a 24-seat map, a lingering desire to preserve all 26 current seats remains for some elected officials.

County board members received their first look at what a 24-seat map would entail for them late last week, leaving some dissatisfied with the way the new political lines are drawn. Indeed, most county board members will see notable changes in the population they count as their constituency.

For example, longtime board member Barb Wojnicki would pick up all of Plato Township for the first time, taking some territory from county board member T.R. Smith. Board member Phil Lewis would see his St. Charles constituency become 50 percent Geneva residents. And board member Melisa Taylor’s district would include about all of her home territory of Sugar Grove while also adding Big Rock residents currently served by board member Drew Frasz.

Board member Jim Mitchell has publicly voted in favor of a reduction to 24 seats but has repeatedly said in private that he’d prefer 26 seats.

“What they did with this map is totally disenfranchise North Aurora,” Mitchell said. “North Aurora will never be able to elect someone from the village to the county board. They’ve also made it so North Aurora residents are tied more to Democratic areas, meaning they’ll never be able to elect someone in line with their political leanings. I have a problem with that.”

Mitchell said he’ll call for a vote to keep all current 26 seats at the next full county board meeting.

“And if I don’t, somebody else will,” he said.

That somebody else could be either county board members Deb Allan or Bonnie Kunkel. Neither sit on the county’s redistricting task force, but said publicly they are not fans of the political changes the new 24-seat map would create.

Allan, of Elgin, said she believes the board’s nonbinding vote to move to 24 seats, which passed 14-10 with two members absent, would’ve had a different outcome if people knew what the 24-seat map would look like before the vote.

“I think 26 might be a lot better, and I’d like us to have a choice,” Allan said. “If we can stay at 26, and keep constituencies intact, board members might prefer that.”

Kunkel, a Democrat from Aurora, pointed to Mitchell’s concerns as a glaring reason to keep 26 seats. Kunkel would see her current district move slightly west and pick up a couple Republican voting precincts.

“We wanted to make sure there was enough representation out in the townships and make sure each of the communities is represented on the board,” Kunkel said. “Cutting up North Aurora and it being lost is exactly why the board was designed with 26 members. There is still a lot of discussion going on about what the right number is.”

The question is whether or not that discussion will generate enough votes to keep 26 seats. Most board members believe the change will happen if for no other reason than the pressure heaped on the board by Chairman Karen McConnaughay’s self-funded survey showing the public favors an 18-seat board.

Even Mitchell said he’s not confident of having enough votes to keep 26 seats.

“I figure 24 is where we’ll be,” he said.

The county board will take a binding vote to lock in the size of the future county board at its May 10 meeting.