Will County Ordinance Committee Briefs: Unanimous Votes for Proclamations, Title Changes, Audits Discussed

Committee Clarifies Unanimous Vote Requirement for Honorary Proclamations: The Ordinance Committee refined language in Chapter 30 regarding honorary proclamations, specifying that they shall be allowed “only by unanimous vote” of members present at the executive committee. Committee member Judy Ogala suggested the wording change to ensure clarity that proclamations require unanimous support to move forward. The committee noted this requirement has occasionally caused frustration when contentious proclamations are proposed.

Prairie View Landfill Audit Review Requirements Addressed: Committee members discovered during their review that the executive committee is required to annually review the auditor’s report on the Prairie View Landfill, but this has not been happening in recent years. “This is one of the reasons we’re going through this,” Ogala noted. Phil Mock from the State’s Attorney’s Office suggested the committee could specify a particular month for this review to ensure compliance with the requirement in the future.

Terminology for Board Leadership Standardized: The committee discussed inconsistent terminology for the county board’s top leadership position, which has variously been called “chair,” “speaker,” and “speaker/chair” in different documents. Mock explained that state statute uses both terms in different places, leading to the combined term. “The state statute in some places calls it speaker and in other places still uses the term chair,” Mock said. The committee worked to ensure consistent usage of “speaker/chair” throughout the ordinances.

Title 10 Ordinance Approved: In addition to their work on Chapter 30, the committee unanimously approved updates to Title 10 of the county’s ordinances. The changes were primarily formatting improvements, including the removal of section symbols and previous ordinance citations. The committee forwarded the updated Title 10 to the executive committee for further consideration.

Consent Agenda Formatting Corrected: The committee identified and corrected a typographical error in the section about consent agendas, changing “a report of resolution” to “a report or resolution shall be placed on the consent agenda.” The correction was treated as a scrivener’s error and did not require a formal vote.

Committee Members’ Comments Limited to Three Minutes: During review of the meeting procedures section, the committee confirmed that county board members’ comments at the end of meetings are limited to three minutes each. When questioned whether this was sufficient time, member Judy Ogala quipped, “By the end of having said your piece, I wish we used a timer.” Don Bullock added, “You’d be surprised how much you could say in three minutes.”

Public Access to Full Ordinance Drafts Offered: Phil Mock offered to share ordinance drafts with any county board members who express interest, noting he would send them individually to avoid violating the Open Meetings Act. “If any other member wants to get sent these as they’re occurring, I’m more than happy to send them to them,” Mock said. “I wouldn’t send them to all of you if I thought you all wanted them, but I don’t want to bury people with documents they don’t want.”