Any modified ward system a ways off for Elgin

Supporters of a mixed electoral system in Elgin, where city council members would be elected both at-large and in districts, are putting the brakes on a petition drive that could have placed a question about the issue on the April ballot.

Last month, the city council voted 4-3 to reject a proposal by Councilman and mayoral candidate Dave Kaptain to put an advisory referendum on the ballot that would have asked voters if they favored the election of some council members by ward. Currently, the council is made up of seven members who are all elected at large.

Opponents of the ward system, notably Mayor Ed Schock, said at the time that efforts to create a referendum, if desired by residents, should be grassroots-driven.

So several neighborhood groups and residents took that advice and went door to door collecting signatures to get the nonbinding referendum on the ballot, until that effort was put on hold late last week.

Laurie Faith Gibson-Aiello, a resident who was organizing the petitions, said the collective input from petition circulators was that many residents were confused about Elgin's current system, and what a new system would be like.

“We got a lot of signatures, but it got to the point (where we said), ‘Don't keep standing out in the cold. We need to educate people.' That's what was becoming apparent,” Gibson-Aiello said.

About 500 signatures were collected in three weeks, still short of the 820 needed to get the referendum on the ballot.

Dave White, who heads the Association for Legal Americans, said his group had petition circulators on the streets, and they were able to collect 100 or so signatures. But he said it became a question of “how fast you can explain it” to residents.

“There was an opportunity lost here that could've been where voters could have a say, either yeah or nay,” White said.

Gibson-Aiello had originally told those collecting signatures to get the petitions into her by Thursday, before the final filing deadline of Jan. 11.

Instead, organizers are refocusing their educational efforts on an already-scheduled informational forum on the referendum process Jan. 10 at the Gail Borden Library, she said. The event, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Elgin Area, will include discussion about a potential modified ward system.

It will be held at the library's Community Rooms A-B-C from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Had an advisory measure been placed on the ballot in the spring 2011 election, a binding referendum might have been included on the 2013 ballot, with a mixed system in place for the 2015 municipal election.

Now, the next possible time supporters could try to put a question on the ballot would be in the 2012 general election.