Kane County Board torn on redistricting

Eighteen or nothing could become the motto for Kane County Board members taking a look at slashing the size of the board through the redistricting process.

The county board's Committee of the Whole had a first look at the parameters for redistricting Tuesday. Early feedback indicated a split in sentiment about how large the board should be. While some members expressed skepticism about the need to shrink the size of the board now, others said the 26-member board might as well lop off eight seats.

Eighteen is a key number — that's the maximum amount of board members any county with a population of 800,000 or more residents can have. County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay has said the board should begin the path to trimming the board down to 18 now by eliminating at least two board seats. However, both her and redistricting task force Chairman Cathy Hurlbut have publicly said they'd back a cut all the way down to 18 right now if it was politically feasible.

“If you asked the public, I bet you'd find the public supports a reduction in the size of the board,” McConnaughay said. “How you do with the political reality of which of county board member are you going to pit against another is a part of the difficulty.”

Board Member John Hoscheit said he's aware some people have said cutting board seats will result in unmanageable district sizes, but he wasn't buying that.

“If you divide 800,000 by 18, that's not an overwhelming number,” Hoscheit said. “If we're going to make a change, then let's make a change. I don't think (cutting) two people is going to be a significant change. If at 800,000 people the most you can have is 18, then why have more than that at 500,000?”

But other board members weren't as anxious to break out the guillotine. County Board Member Bonnie Kunkel said she isn't convinced the county has enough time to fully examine the proper size of the board before the redistricting deadline this summer. Kunkel said Kane County won't hit the 800,000 population mark for many years.

“We'll be looking more than 20 years out before we have to deal with that regulation, probably more like 50 years out,” Kunkel said. “The legislation will probably change before then. To put that out there seems specious to me.”

McConnaughay countered that cutting the board will be a savings for taxpayers. She doesn't believe county board members should see their pay automatically go up just because they have larger districts. She also noted that there is seldom full attendance by board members at county board meetings or even committee level meetings.

“This board needs to be cut down in size, and I have yet to see compelling reason why we shouldn't,” McConnaughay said.

If the cut comes, board members said they want to try and keep municipalities together in districts as much as possible. They also believe districts with the most unincorporated territory have the most work as county board members basically serve at the intensity level of an alderman. Court decisions will also force the county to closely examine clusters of minority population with voting trends that differ from the white majority population. Drawing districts to dilute that minority vote has almost always resulted in lawsuits.

The redistricting task force will get to the work of cutting the board at its next meeting on March 29.