Political Strife Dominates Will County Board Meeting

By Stephen Nelson

Political fights along  Democratic and Republican party lines dominated a tense Will County Board meeting on February 25.  This became evident during a vote to appoint Mimi Cowan (D-District 11) as the new board chairperson.

A coalition of members agreed before the meeting to abstain from the vote, because the choice was not supported by leadership on both sides of the aisle.  Cowan won appointment by the narrowest of margins, getting exactly the 12 votes needed for approval.

Next, the appointment of Elnalyn Costa (D-Bolingbrook) to fill a vacant District 4 seat failed, thanks to the same coalition, but it was entirely doomed when Judy Ogalla (R-District 1) voted no.

Agreement along party lines came about when a vote to send lawmakers in Springfield the official county position on pending legislation was amended, after it was discovered the advisory to State Senators and Representatives did not contain language supporting expanding the power of county executives.

Legislation to do just that currently is being considered, having passed a Senate Rules Committee vote on Thursday, February 24 (SB-1015). Ogalla says the original resolution was engineered by County Executive Jennifer Bertino Tarrant and represents a power struggle between her office and leadership of the county board for control of how it operates.

By a unanimous vote, the board had language changed in the document to show that Will County does not support the bill. Ogalla noted only Will and Champaign Counties currently have a county executive form of government.  .

It was back to partisanship on the panel over a resolution declaring homelessness a public health emergency in Will County. Democratic proponents said the measure would allow the gathering of data that would then result in specific actions to address the issue.

Republican opponents argued while homelessness does exist in the county, it is not on a level to declare an emergency.

Democrats cited statistics showing, on any given day, there are an estimated 300 people homeless in Will County, with the majority being children. Majority Democrats on the board won out, passing the measure 13 to 10, with Judy Ogalla voting no.