Letter: Fair appointments in Naperville

AAUW Naperville Area and our 100-plus voting members strongly support the recommendations made by the League of Women Voters Naperville (LWVN) to ensure consistency and transparency in the appointments made to Naperville boards and commissions.

The LWVN commissioned a study to understand the current process used in our city for appointments and to compare our process to those in other cities that Naperville frequently uses as benchmarks. Based upon this data and the consensus input from all LWVN members, the recommendations to improve the process are:

• 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.

• Members of the city council should be able to see applications to municipal boards and commissions.

• Stakeholders should have input in the mayor's process for making nominations to municipal boards and commissions.

• Public availability of application information should be limited.

• A standardized and well-defined interview process should be required for nominees to municipal boards and commissions.

Our branch fully supports each recommendation and urges council and all residents to support these measures for transparency and consistency.

Barbara Vernon, President AAUW Naperville

Lee Eastman, President-Elect AAUW Naperville