McHenry County Board likely staying same size

Members of the McHenry County Board have given initial indication that they want to leave the number of legislative districts and the size of the board in tact.

At a special committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, board members discussed redistricting plans and made recommendations to the county’s legislative committee and staff regarding the number of board members, districts and other criteria. During the discussion, a number of board members suggested increasing the number of districts, while others recommended decreasing the number of representatives on the board. But a straw poll found that more than half of the board members favored keeping the makeup of the county board as is.

At a meeting last week, the county’s Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs committee recommended retaining the 24 members and six districts.

“The consensus was that 24 members is the right size and six districts makes a lot of sense,” McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler said. “There’s nothing scientific about it.”

Board member Peter Merkel, who was among the minority votes at the committee level who supported a smaller board, said the timing was right to make changes to the district maps. The county is required to redraw district maps after each Census in order to account for population changes. Each district must contain an equal number of residents, within a certain deviation. According to the 2010 Census, the county’s districts are out of compliance, said Mike Fortner, a Northern Illinois University professor and Republican state representative from West Chicago, who is helping the county through redistricting.

“If there is a time to do any reorganization, now is the time to do it.” said Merkel, who supported 18 to 20 board members. “We all talk about having a smaller government, a more efficient government ... Given the economic climate we are in, we are all doing a lot more with less.”

Sandra Salgado, a board member from McHenry, suggested reducing the geographical area of each district and creating 12 two-member districts to better represent the constituents.

“I am not afraid of making changes,” said Salgado, who added she would need to see a map to make an educated decision. “Just because it is working doesn’t mean we can’t make it better.”

Committee of the whole members did not address the question of whether the county board chairman should be elected at-large.

The county board is hoping to approve any redistricting changes before the July 5 regular board meeting.