Kane County wants to hear how the COVID-19 lockdown is affecting residents

Starting tonight, residents will have a chance over the next three Tuesdays to tell Kane County officials what their experience has been during the statewide shelter-in-place order. The virtual listening sessions will collect perspectives of constituents county board chairman Chris Lauzen believes are underrepresented during the COVID-19 outbreak.

"I would like to make an additional effort on our collective behalf to reach out to those people who may feel they are not being heard, as far as the impact the stay-at-home order is having on their families' lives," Lauzen said. "These sessions will not be press conferences. They will not even be town hall question-and-answer meetings. They will be - citizens talk; I'll listen."

Lauzen has consistently pressed the message that public officials must take the outbreak seriously but not instill fear in residents. County officials received letters from several Elgin Community College employees and employees of the county at the onset of the virus expressing concern the county was sluggish in restricting access to public offices and outfitting employees to work from home. Lauzen, who will end his term in November, refutes that complaint.

Lauzen's decision to host the listening sessions came shortly after Gov. J.B. Pritzker extended the shelter-in-place order through the end of May.

The county health department shuttered the Smithfield Food plant in St. Charles over the weekend for failing to take proper precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.

In announcing the listening sessions, Lauzen denied any political motive.

"I remind everyone that I'm not running for any political office," he said. "This is merely an attempt to more effectively serve."

All three virtual sessions will use the Zoom online meeting platform. The first session will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. today. Attendees can register at the county's website: www.countyofkane.org. The second session will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. May 5. The final session will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on May 12.