Kane County Board rejects chairman’s committee choices

Kane County Board members last week rejected every selection county board Chairman Corinne Pierog made for who should serve on and lead the board’s committees.

As a result, the committee assignments for county board members will remain as-is for at least another year, according to the board’s legal adviser.

The board voted 13 to 10 against Pierog’s choices during a meeting on Tuesday.

The only Republican to vote in favor was Rick Williams. Democrats Allan, Mavis Bates, Michelle Gumz, Mohammad Iqbal, Leslie Juby, Mike Linder and Bill Tarver voted against the assignments.

A good deal of the five-hour meeting was spent on the matter, particularly on who should lead the finance committee, which oversees the preparation of the budget among other things.

“Many were interested in serving on finance. There was not enough room,” said Pierog, a Democrat.

Committees typically have seven to nine members, and every county board member must serve on at least two committees. Pierog had asked board members to tell her their preferences.

Pierog had proposed having Democrat Vern Tepe, who was vice chairman of the board, as finance chairman. But the board voted 13 to 11 to have Democrat Jarrett Sanchez lead the committee.

Sanchez, however, had asked and was assigned to be chairman of the agriculture committee. Pierog said county board practice has been that nobody should be the chairman of two committees.

Sanchez said he would accept the finance role if board members wanted him to do it. He also said he did not want to be chairman of two committees, citing the workload. He voted “present” on the measure.

Pierog rejected the board’s recommendation. Tepe then proposed that Democrat Dale Berman, the most recent finance chairman, retain the role, with Tepe as vice-chairman. Pierog agreed to that amendment.

There was more discussion, including the idea of recessing the meeting until next week. The board instead decided to call the question, without further discussion.

“Hell of a way to start this (the new board term), huh?” Democrat Michelle Gumz said, criticizing Pierog for not accepting the board’s recommendation of Sanchez, calling it dismissive.

Pierog said she had spent many hours working with Tepe and Berman to come up with the assignments.

She said nobody got everything they wanted.

At a special board meeting on Dec. 2, Democrat Juby asked why she was being removed from the finance committee and placed on two committees she had no interest in. She asked what criteria Pierog used to determine committee memberships and suggested that one of the new county board members be removed from finance and assigned to another committee. Pierog asked board members to work out proposed switches by last Friday; she also granted an after-the-deadline request from a board member.

The board also selected a new vice chairman. Republican Bill Roth defeated Berman for the position. Roth will serve until December 2026.

Pierog will not need board approval to fill committee vacancies created by departures of several board members.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241211/news/kane-county-board-rejects-chairmans-committee-choices/