Mayors fight back against merger with Naperville

Four DuPage County mayors will file formal objections to annexation petitions Monday in an effort to block a mysterious push to ask voters in Lisle, Warrenville and Woodridge if they want to merge with Naperville.

The mayors - David Brummel of Warrenville, Steve Chirico of Naperville, Gina Cunningham-Picek of Woodridge and Joseph Broda of Lisle - plan a news conference at 11 a.m. at the county administration building in Wheaton to outline their opposition.

Their move comes just days after petitions to place referendum questions on the April 4 ballot were filed in DuPage County's 18th Judicial Court and Will County's 12th Judicial Court.

The proposals would ask voters a basic yes-or-no question. In Lisle, for example, it would ask, "Shall the Village of Lisle be annexed into the City of Naperville?"

Mayors and other officials from all four municipalities already have said they see little chance the towns would actually merge and to do so would be extraordinarily complicated and costly. They also have said approval of such a proposal could have far-reaching and negative impacts on other taxing bodies and how services are provided.

The mayors also question who's behind the referendum drive and what their motives may be. No one has yet come forward to publicly speak in favor of the proposal.

Chicago attorney Frank Avila represents the petitioners but when contacted Thursday would not discuss the proposal, who's behind it or what his role is in it. He could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Signatures to put the referendum questions on the ballot were collected in Lisle, Warrenville and Woodridge, but apparently not Naperville. It appears most of those who collected the signatures were from Chicago.

Based on the original court filing, 189 people signed petitions in Lisle, 81 in Warrenville and 51 in Woodridge.

Warrenville's Brummel has said he thinks some of the people whose signatures appear didn't realize what they were signing.

Officials in all four towns have said they think their communities already function effectively and that the vast majority of their residents have no interest in such a merger.

"I see nothing positive about this," Brummel said Thursday. "It's a huge waste of time and resources."