Geneva, St. Charles to get new Kane County Board representative July 13

Residents in St. Charles and the northwest part of Geneva are poised to have a Kane County Board representative for the first time since the November election.

A bipartisan committee interviewed three finalists Wednesday to replace former county board member Steve Weber. Weber resigned from the board after winning a seat on the St. Charles City Council.

The committee made its recommendation to county board chair Corinne Pierog with no public announcement of who was selected. The interviews also happened behind closed doors.

Weber is a Republican. His replacement must also be a Republican. Kane County Republican Party Chairman Ken Shepro, who also sits on the county board and the recommending committee, said he was pleased with the recommendation.

"Given the diversity of this group, I'm very impressed with the comments and questions we had, and even more so that we were unanimous," Shepro said.

He wasn't as optimistic going into the final interviews and deliberation. County officials posted new potential versions of what the boundaries will be for county board districts after mandatory reapportionment this week. Those maps include boundaries that would place two of the three finalists outside of District 13.

"That, frankly, makes a mockery of this process," Shepro said just before the finalist interviews. "People don't seem to be really interested in having a good Republican in this seat."

The thinking was if the county board appoints someone to fill the vacancy who isn't able to run for the seat in next year's elections, that would muddy the process for Republicans hoping to keep that seat in GOP control.

Fellow Republican John Martin, who is also on both the county board and recommending committee, said he would not approve of a new district map that is drawn specifically to accommodate the District 13 appointee.

But Pierog, who is a Democrat, reminded the committee the county board has already agreed that any new district maps must be drawn to keep all incumbents within the districts they now serve. The appointee, she said, would be an incumbent and treated no differently than the rest of the county board. The maps won't be finalized until sometime this fall.

With that in mind, the committee was able to reach a unanimous selection. The full county board is set to vote on the recommendation at the July 13 meeting.