Lawlor pushing Lake County board changes

Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor briefly spoke to the panel's financial and administrative committee Wednesday about his plans to reshape the board and change how the chairman is elected.

Lawlor wants to put questions on the 2018 ballot that would ask Lake County residents if the chairman should be elected by voters starting in 2022 and not named by the commissioners; the 21-member board should be reduced by at least four commissioners; and if the board's districts should be redrawn after the 2020 census using an independent, nonpartisan mapping process.

The proposals were prompted by a new bill in the state Senate that would require voters to elect the county board chairman starting in 2020. At Lawlor's request, the financial committee said it will debate the merits of the proposals when it next meets Feb. 8. The full board could decide whether to support Lawlor's proposals when it meets Feb. 14.