Prospect Heights voters reject changes to clerk, treasurer posts

Voters in Prospect Heights on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected proposals to make the city clerk and city treasurer positions appointed posts, rather than elected ones.

The proposals appeared on Tuesday's ballot as separate referendum questions. On the city clerk question, 1,218 votes, or about 38 percent of the total, were cast in favor of the proposal, while 1,995 votes, or 62 percent, were cast against it.

For the city treasurer, 1,112 (35 percent) votes were cast in favor of the proposal, and 2,096 votes (65 percent) against.

Those numbers are based on unofficial vote totals, will all 11 precincts reporting.

Prospect Heights Mayor Nick Helmer said the city placed the questions on the ballot in an effort to reduce the size of local government and save money.

"Those positions are essentially nonexistent at this point," Helmer said. "The idea was that less government would be better. I certainly had no intention to appoint anyone to those posts, should the vote have gone the other way."

Helmer said the city didn't make any organized effort to discuss the referendum questions with residents.

"We thought we'd put them on the ballot and then just let the people decide," he said. "Now that it's done, I plan to move on."

Helmer said he'll focus his attention now on the municipal election taking place in the spring, in which he plans to run for another term as mayor.