Kane County circuit court clerk may be hit with lawsuit by next week
Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said Wednesday she expects a taxpayer-funded lawsuit will be the only solution to Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller's office not being able to pay its bills in about a month.
In fact, there is no reason to wait, McConnaughay said.
"Since the circuit clerk has signed the taxpayers up to spend tax dollars on private attorneys for her on the premise that she's suing the taxpayers, let's get on with it so we can better understand how to resolve this year-end budget dilemma," McConnaughay said.
The comment came after yet another county board committee rejected Seyller's request for a midyear, $555,000 cash infusion for her budget. The need for more money stems from the hiring of 14 employees over the past two years. Some of those hires replace employees who left. Others were new staff positions.
The county has a had a long-standing hiring freeze, but Seyller is her own employer. The board sets Seyller's budget.
Three committees have officially voted the budget request down. A final "no" is expected when the full county board meets next Tuesday.
McConnaughay said that's also when she wants board members to decide what that final "no" really means.
"I have every reason to believe the full board is going to deny her (request)," McConnaughay said. "Once that happens, that opens up the other discussion, the legal recourse. She has promised that she's suing the board. She has gone to the courts and asked for court-appointed counsel. We have not taken that step. Why incur that cost if we don't know what we're being sued for? We still don't know what her premise for a lawsuit is. If we are approaching the point where we clearly are at an impasse on what happens, the board may be required to go to the courts and say what happens there."
Seyller has asked for, and received, an appointed outside lawyer to consult about her budget battle with the county board last year and this year. No lawsuit has resulted thus far. However, Seyller has said she needs the $555,000 to fund the mandated functions of her office. She's also said she's not willing to incur any personal legal liability by exposing her employees to unfair working conditions or a breach of her contract with her employees' union because of an underfunded budget.
Reached after the vote, Seyller did not mention the possibility of a lawsuit.
"Given the vote, I will be examining and exploring all aspects of the situation before reaching any conclusions," Seyller said in an e-mail interview.