N. Aurora fire board question on ballot

North Aurora residents will decide in February if they want to elect the fire protection board, a year and a half after the issue was first proposed.

"We put a lot of shoe leather into this one," said resident Steve Gaspardo, who led the petition drive.

He said fire board members should be accountable to North Aurora taxpayers.

The three-member board is now appointed by the county board to three-year terms.

Fire Chief Steve Miller said he wanted to stress that the current fire board is doing a good job. He said the petition for the spring election had problems, including listing unregistered voters, but the fire board still certified it to go on the ballot.

Some firefighters had said Gaspardo, a former firefighter, was bringing the measure as a vendetta.

Miller said the fire board members "weren't against it to begin with, just the reason behind it."

Gaspardo said that in the 12 years he worked part time at the department, he disagreed with the ways things were run and wanted a way to get residents involved in the process.

This is the second time a group of residents collected about 1,000 signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

This February the question was taken off the ballot after a challenge to the Kane County Electoral Board.

The question was also submitted to be on the fall 2006 ballot, but was several days after the deadline.

This time around, the fire board passed a resolution supporting the measure.

"I think we're ready for this," said fire board member Jerry Auchstetter, who has been on the board since 1993. "I think we're in a position where this is a good idea."