Chairman, coroner spat doing no good

Chairman, coroner spat doing no good

I have followed for several months now this ongoing battle between the Kane County chairman and the coroner. I'm concerned that I don't see a lot of push back from any of the board members regarding this.

In my opinion the chairman and the coroner were elected by the same group of people. Coroner Rob Russell has done more to bring the coroner's office into the 21st century than either of his predecessors (West or Kearns) in the mere two years that he has served.

The fact that board Chairman Chris Lauzen has made headlines of a $1,000 investment in trinkets for National Night Out with total disregard for how much the sheriff or state's attorney might have spent for the same event is ludicrous, and that not one board member "dared" to confront the chairman on this is really disappointing.

On the other hand, this chairman wants to spend $20,000 and countless hours of staff time in what essentially is an exercise in second guessing that will provide no useful information or practical results.

The chairman's apparent unhealthy obsession with the coroner's budget to the exclusion of other elected officials, whose budgets make up the overwhelming percentage of public safety expenditures, suggests a lack of proportionality on his part.

The time and effort (and staff time) devoted to this chairman's feud with the coroner should be making everybody uncomfortable and is a distraction from the important issues facing the county and needs to end.

Ellen Nottke

Batavia