League of Women Voters of Naperville adopts new position on the city's municipal boards and commissions

Spurred by 2022 public concern over nominations to municipal boards and commissions, League of Women Voters of Naperville has completed a 10-month study of the openness and transparency of Naperville's system for making and confirming appointments to municipal boards and commissions.

A copy of the report is available from lwvnaperville.advocacy@gmail.com

The League's position is that Naperville's process for making nominations and appointments to municipal boards and commissions is not sufficiently open and transparent at this time.

Full position

1. Our League supports requiring an application for all appointees to municipal boards and commissions. The application process should be well understood by and accessible to all eligible Naperville residents.

2. Our League supports a process where members of the city council would be able to see applications to municipal boards and commissions.

3. Our League strongly recommends that stakeholders have input in the mayor's process for making nominations to municipal boards and commissions.

4. Our League supports limited public availability of application information.

5. Our League supports a standardized and well-defined interview process as a requirement for nominees to municipal boards and commissions.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Diversity Equity and Inclusion is a key value for League of Women Voters, and we have been mindful of DEI throughout this study.

While LWV Naperville is aware of and applauds the recent increased diversity on some of Naperville's municipal boards and commissions, the concepts of DEI and openness & transparency are not mutually exclusive.

Naperville's own DEI position recognizes transparency and inclusion as essential and interdependent components of DEI, defining inclusion as "creating an (authentic and transparent) environment wherein people feel/are valued and welcomed."

Background to position

Naperville currently has 19 municipal boards and commissions. These boards and commissions are advisory. Appointees to municipal boards and commissions are required to be residents of Naperville.

By municipal code, appointments to Naperville boards and commissions are made by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Municipal code mentions applications, but existing municipal code does not appear to have any requirement for an appointee to submit an application or to be interviewed.

Naperville's current municipal code for boards and commissions was written in 2004 and 2005 with minor updates in 2022 for gender neutral pronouns.

Applications are submitted online. Council members do not have access to the pool of applications submitted for municipal boards and commissions.

League of Women Voters of Naperville examined extensive application, attendance, and appointment data provided by the city through FOIA requests. We conducted interviews with the mayor and members of the city council.

In addition, we conducted a survey of fourteen comparable communities which indicates that most other communities allow other people in addition to the mayor to review applications to municipal boards and commissions. A review of these benchmark communities suggests that Naperville's process is not in keeping with best practice for other communities of its size and stature.

Conclusion

The mission of the League of Women Voters is to empower voters and defend democracy.

This League position and study provide a baseline and a springboard to further educate ourselves and Naperville citizens about the process of making nominations and appointments to municipal boards and commissions and to advocate for change and improvement in the process for making nominations and appointments to municipal boards and commissions, in keeping with democratic principles.

The Naperville League has shared its position with the mayor and city council. We urge Naperville residents to support efforts to ensure open, transparent board and commission appointments.