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YORKVILLE – For the second time, a Kendall County judge has rejected arguments from the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office seeking dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the method by which the Kendall County Board staggers the term lengths of its members.
Associate Judge Joseph Voiland on May 2 ruled that the Kendall County Board may be sued and that the plaintiff, Yorkville resident Todd Milliron, has the standing to do so.
“The Kendall County Board is a proper entity to be sued in this matter,” Voiland said.
Milliron contends that the staggered two- and four-year terms for County Board members that are assigned every 10 years after the Census must be determined by lottery under state election law.
However, the board decided ahead of the Nov. 8, 2022, election to change the way the staggered terms of office are determined.
Under the new system, the top five vote-getters start with four-year terms of office while the next five begin with two-year terms on the board. The new board was seated using that system last December.
At the May 2 hearing, Kendall County State’s Attorney Civil Division Chief Jim Webb argued that Milliron lacks the standing to sue, that the board cannot be sued and that the court does not have the ability to provide relief.
“This appears to be an improper plaintiff suing an improper defendant seeking improper relief,” Webb argued before the judge.
At a hearing Feb. 8, Voiland ruled against the State’s Attorney’s Office’s contention that because Milliron had failed to win a seat on the board in the Nov. 8, 2022 election, he lacks the legal standing to file suit.
“The Kendall County Board is a proper entity to be sued in this matter.”
— Associate Judge Joseph Voiland
Voiland had rejected that argument, ruling that Milliron’s status as a voter and resident of Kendall County were sufficient. He had not changed his mind.
“I’m not going to rehash that issue,” Voiland said.
Webb noted that it was the previous board which had approved the new system for staggering terms and that board members could not properly change a system affecting their own terms and that there is no enforcement provision in the statute.
However, Milliron’s attorney Ed Mullen of Chicago argued that no action by the board is necessary other than to conduct a lottery.
Voiland acknowledged Webb’s contention that the statute does not contain a provision for enforcement.
“That’s why we’re here in court,” Voiland said. “This court is the enforcement mechanism.”
A ruling against the County Board would not require board members to take any legislative action, Voiland said, “other than the flip of a coin or drawing straws. “It’s purely a lottery.”
Voiland gave Webb 21 days to file a written response and set a May 31 date for the next hearing in the case.
“I want to keep this on a fast track,” Voiland said.
Every 10 years, the entire County Board is up for election to allow for redistricting after the decennial census. Terms of office are staggered so that half the board seats are up for election every two years.
The county has in the past used a lottery system in which the county clerk draws numbered pingpong balls to determine the five board members who will start with four-year terms and who will be up for reelection in two years.
Milliron charges that the new arrangement violates state elections law, which he contends requires the assignment of term lengths to be left to chance. He was running for a board seat in District 1 under the independent Kendall County Party banner when he filed the lawsuit in Kendall County Circuit Court on Sept. 19, 2022.