Kane contract votes will have heightened disclosure

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay instituted a policy change Thursday that might grease the wheels for the county's stalled ethics law debate.

Members of the county board's Executive Committee each received 16 additional pages in their information packet for the day's votes. The pages were copies of the disclosure forms the county's current ethics ordinance requires companies seeking to do business with the county to fill out. The disclosure forms detail any campaign contributions members of the company made in the past 12 months; a listing of ownership interests in the company, and the names of any lobbyists the company uses.

Until now, the only people who typically ever saw those disclosure sheets were employees in the county's purchasing department. McConnaughay said the forms will now be included in agenda packets whenever a county contract is up for a vote.

“This should adequately address Mr. Mitchell's concerns about full public disclosure,” McConnaughay said of the change.

County board member Jim Mitchell has repeatedly called for a change in the ethics law that would require every board member and the chairman to verbally disclose any campaign contributions they've received from a company or its employees before contract votes. When a significant element of the board balked against that proposal, Mitchell began publicly calling out board members for the contributions. On Thursday, Mitchell said including the forms goes a long way to addressing what he wants to see in the county's ethics ordinance. He believes the change may break the stalemate on the ethics ordinance debate.

“I thought the ordinance would come through quicker after the primary election,” Mitchell said. “I can't believe it would be delayed until (the general election). But I'll tell you what, if it's delayed until the new board, and the people who I believe will win actually win, you will see a better ethics ordinance in this county.”