Rep. Nick Sauer (R-Lake Barrington) would like to see a countywide vote to decide whether Lake County should have a chairman, but he doesn't think representatives like himself should force it on people.
A Senate bill that would put such a referendum on the Lake County 2018 ballot passed the House on Friday.
“I understand the reasoning behind doing this bill,” Sauer, a former Lake County board member, said. “As I have said before, I think it is a good idea to have a countywide election. I have some concerns over it, though, that there are two avenues that can already be employed, and that we can do it at the local level to move it forward."
Lake County can get the question on the ballot in two ways: via a county board decision to have a countywide election or by voters collecting enough signatures.
Senate Bill 669, presented to the chamber by Sen. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan), would make the question a mandate for the 2018 ballot. If voters approve of the measure, the chairman would be elected in the 2020 election.
Sauer argued that Lake County is doing quite well by itself and does not need government interference.
“Lake County has a balanced budget; it has a triple-A bond rating; it is bipartisan,” Saeur said. “Actually, there was a vote, a resolution, passed in the county -- 21 to 0 [by] Republicans and Democrats - to keep the election and keep the structure of their government in this current standing. I have some major concerns over this, and I would ask that the body vote 'no' to this at this time and that the local level determine how they can go about electing a chairman with their own initiative as opposed to coming from the state as a mandate.”
Voting on HB669 was contentious, but the measure passed 61-50. It now awaits a response from Gov. Bruce Rauner.
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