Why the DuPage County Board will hold one night meeting next year
DuPage County Board members will have one of their regular meetings at night next year to make it possible for more of the working public to attend.
The county board has established a 2024 schedule that calls for convening a meeting at 7 p.m. May 28 - the day after Memorial Day - but not without debate. The board typically meets at 10 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.
The board two weeks ago was supposed to adopt the official calendar for the coming year when member Dawn DeSart suggested switching two morning meeting dates - after Memorial Day and Veterans Day - to the nighttime to give more people an opportunity to see the workings of county government in person.
"A lot of municipalities and school boards, in fact, I would say most of them in DuPage County, meet in the evening," DeSart said Tuesday when board members revisited the issue.
However, many doubted the schedule change would boost public participation. Some questioned the expense of keeping county employees on hand for evening meetings, working past their regular job hours.
"I think child care is a very important issue," board member Lucy Chang Evans said. "If we're talking about taking care of our employees, and making sure that they can work and live lives outside of their jobs, I just think that somebody should be advocating for them."
She also was skeptical that the schedule shift would bring more citizens to meetings.
"If the goal is to increase public engagement and to increase transparency, I am not convinced that moving one or two meetings per year is going to achieve that goal," Chang Evans said.
The county already livestreams and posts board meetings on YouTube. Longtime members said the county has had night meetings over the years.
"Nobody showed up," said Brian Krajewski, who's been on the board since 2010.
While she was initially concerned about the cost and inconvenience for employees, board member Cindy Cronin Cahill said a county memo shows that the expense of staffing a night meeting would be "nominal."
She and fellow board member Jim Zay said they were willing to try one night meeting next year. But Zay noted that having it the day after a holiday would "be more difficult for people to come to after a long weekend."
Board member Yeena Yoo said she's heard from several constituents interested in a night session. County staffers, she said, would be able to attend by Zoom if they had a family conflict.
"In District 2, we have been asked about night meetings, and some of us talked about that we would try to get those as a campaign promise," board member Liz Chaplin said.
The board is scheduled to conduct 21 regular meetings at 10 a.m. in 2024.