Attendance, public pay are issues in Kane County Board race

How important is it for Kane County Board members to attend their meetings?

Should a person who has a government job take on a paid political office?

Kane County Board District 10 incumbent Susan Starrett and her opponent, Douglas Sullivan, find themselves disagreeing on those issues as they campaign for the Republican nomination for the seat. The winner of the March primary will face Democrat Todd Zies of North Aurora.

Sullivan, 39, of Batavia, says Starrett has missed a lot of meetings. When she sought the office in 2012, she promised she would regularly attend board meetings, he said.

"She made that an issue. She said that was an important part of serving the constituents," Sullivan said.

Attendance records on the county's website indicate that in 2013, Starrett attended 70 percent of the 48 possible meetings for the county board, committee of the whole and committees to which she was assigned. In 2014, she made it to 73 percent of 52 possible meetings, and in 2015 65 percent of 70.

Some of the meetings she missed in 2015 were when she was dealing with a "difficult" pregnancy, Starrett, 43, said. But she did attend others, even when she could not drive, by having her mother take her.

Board members are also Kane County Forest Preserve District commissioners. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, Starrett attended 30 percent of the 36 commission meetings.

"Certainly the medical issue, I don't really want to touch that. That is excusable," Sullivan said of the pregnancy-related absences.

Starrett said that since having her daughter, she hasn't missed county meetings. She also said that she often attends meetings of committees to which she is not assigned.

Meanwhile, Sullivan is president of the Batavia Library board. From July 2013 to June 2014, he missed one of the 28 meetings of the board or committees to which he was assigned. The previous fiscal year, he attended all seven library board meetings, and at least two of three committee meetings (minutes weren't available for the third).

Double-dipping?

Sullivan is a marketing manager for Pace Suburban Bus Service. He said he would use vacation time to attend county board meetings.

Starrett called that "double-dipping" in taxpayer money. County board members are paid $25,000 a year, and receive $30 for each forest preserve commission or committee meeting they attend.

"So we as taxpayers are paying his job, so now he wants a second job where we as taxpayers have to pay him a second time? So I'm not sure how you can justify not being at one job and going to another," Starrett said. Even if Sullivan uses vacation hours, Pace still pays for that time, Starrett said.

Sullivan said because county board meetings take place during daytime, "any county board member that works has to take time off from his or her job, to make the meetings."

"We all have jobs where we either own the company, run it ourselves, or we don't have a responsibility and we don't have bosses that are having us be there," Starrett said of the current board.

Board members should work a job "where you are not slighting your business' owners. I would say that it is not fair to the taxpayers and I would say that it is not fair to your company (otherwise.)"