Why Naperville is ending city-affiliated task forces

Naperville will no longer have city-affiliated task forces due to concerns over perceived endorsements of groups that operate independently from city standards.

Task forces were established by the city about 12 years ago as a way to provide support to informal, private groups in Naperville without subjecting them to typical state and city code regulations, but the city has received questions over its relationship with the organizations, prompting staff to look into the matter.

“Staff reviewed the practice and determined that there’s no ordinance or policy framework for (a task force) designation, and that providing public resources or putting them on a website for private groups raises questions, legitimate questions about equity and endorsement and appropriate use of city resources,” Naperville City Attorney Michael DiSanto said at the July 21 Naperville City Council meeting.

As a result, staff determined the city should remove task forces from the city’s website and end the designation.

There are three task forces the city recognized and provided support to: the Senior Task Force, the Accessible Community Task Force and the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST).

Established in 2014, the Senior Task Force was the first group to receive city task force status. Two seniors told city officials and council members at the time that they wanted to focus on issues related to aging and helping seniors in the community, but one of the organizers for the group did not meet the city’s residency requirements for board or commission membership, according to Naperville city spokesperson Linda LaCloche.

In order to accommodate that senior, who was a longtime Naperville business owner, the task force designation was created. Since then, the Senior Task Force has helped establish programs like Ride Assist Naperville, a nonprofit that helps transport seniors in Naperville to medical appointments.

As task forces, these groups were allowed to handpick their own members and hold private meetings while appearing on the city website as an affiliated group. The Senior Task Force and the Accessible Community Task Force also received some administrative support from the city, which will no longer be provided.

All three groups said they will continue to operate as independent organizations and that the city is helping them transition away from their affiliation.

“It has always been a great partnership that we have seen with the city, and the city has valued it as well,” said Gwenn Lloyd, chair of the Senior Task Force. “Not falling under the city umbrella now, we are a bit in a middle ground as to how to continue to bring about these services (for seniors).”

The Senior Task Force intends to continue much of its programming, including the Senior of the Year Award and the Silver CPR classes.

NEST and the Accessible Community Task Force both plan to continue with their normal programming. The latter was formed in 2016 at the request of the city’s Advisory Commission on Disabilities while NEST was granted task force status in 2019.

In recent years, NEST has been the subject of controversy. As Naperville weighs its energy future, the group has pushed the city not to renew its contract with its current electricity provider, the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency. Some of its messaging and conduct pertaining to its advocacy has garnered criticism.

“NEST as an organization has put the city in a difficult position,” said Councilman Josh McBroom, who has previously called for the group to be stripped of its task force status.

McBroom said he believes the decision to do away with all task forces was a way for the city to quietly cut ties with the NEST without singling them out.

“They made a lot of unsubstantiated claims about our staff in this process that I’ve talked plenty about,” he said. “It’s clear that it was no longer tenable to have an affiliation or an implicit endorsement of that organization with the city.”

LaCloche said the decision was not due to the actions of NEST or any one group, but to give task forces more equal treatment with other non-city organizations.

“We’re not going anywhere. NEST is still going to be fighting for the environment in Naperville,” energy chair Joe Hus said. “We still have a lot of work to do, and there needs to be a voice focused on the environment in Naperville because we have a lot of work to do.”