After mix-up, Batavia referendum request now in the right hands
A petition seeking a referendum asking voters whether Batavia should cease having home-rule authority was supposed to be filed with the city clerk, not the Kane County clerk.
But because the petitioners did that initially, the petition stands, records show.
Resident Carl Dinwiddie filed the petition with the interim deputy city clerk shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday, the last day to file it. But about a half-hour later, the clerk, who had sought advice from the Kane County clerk's office, called Dinwiddie to tell him he needed to file it with the county clerk, the deputy clerk said in an email, and Dinwiddie did so.
On Wednesday morning, the city clerk consulted with a representative of the state election board, who told her the petition should, in fact, be filed with the City of Batavia. The deputy clerk, who is also a utility billing customer-service representative, was appointed temporarily as clerk last summer, when the elected clerk moved out of state.
Nobody is running for clerk April 4. The question may become moot if somebody objects to the petition and it is deemed invalid.
The petition-passers collected 381 signatures, but state law indicates at least 1,100 are necessary to put a question on the ballot.