Bureau County Board split on decision to reduce board size

PRINCETON — The debate on whether the Bureau County Board should shrink its member size or not continues.

During Tuesday’s meeting, it was clear that after two months of discussion between an ad hoc committee, board members are split on making the decision to reduce the size.

Some board members are in favor of splitting the board size in half to a 13-member board, while others believe that doing so would put double the work on members deterring anyone from wanting to take on the role in the future. Plus, the redistricting would take away representation of constituents.

Other board sizes that have been discussed include a 15-member board or an 18-member board.

The county board is up against a July 1 timeline to make a decision. By law, county boards are given the choice to change the size of their board every 10 years after the new census numbers are released. This year is unique, however, in that COVID has delayed the release of the census until September. But like board member Dan Rabe, R-Princeton, said, it’s expected that the county population size will be smaller than 10 years ago based on trends.

Board members like Mary Jane Marini, D-Spring Valley, and Tom Dobrich, D-DePue, believe the voters of Bureau County should have a say in what they’d like to see before the board makes a decision.

Board member Deb Feeney, D-Dalzell, is also against making any changes to the size.

“The diversity and different backgrounds of the board we have now, between the mixture of our experience, our education makes as effective as a board. I just cannot believe that we would take this upon ourselves to make this (decision) without taking it to the people,” she said. “I think it needs to be a vote for the people. Bring a referendum.”

Board members Connie Stetson, R-Neponset, and Derek White, R-Princeton, both made comments Tuesday saying the didn’t believe reducing the board size would create extra work for board members. They’ve also heard a number of their constituents say they can’t believe Bureau County Board seats 26 members and believe it should be reduced.

Rabe added that if the board was reduced, committee workload would look a lot different, and wouldn’t entail the same amount of work that’s involved today. Changing up the workload would also allow the board to take part in different projects it currently can’t do because of its current structure.

The issue of cost was also discussed, however it seems the expense of a 26-member board cannot be a driving factor in the decision. Depending on how people see it, it most likely will be a wash for expenses.

Dobrich said with 26 members and the cost adding up to about $55,000 annually, he believes that if the size of the board is reduced by half, board members will need to be paid twice as much to make up for the extra work they will be doing, plus more work will likely get put on the county administrator who could need an assistant in the future to help keep up with the demand.

Stetson argued that technology and the use of the internet has allowed the board to work more efficient than in the past, it allows for better representation with people being able to communicate faster and 26 people are no longer needed to get the job done. Plus, she said the county hiring an administrator took a lot of the work off the backs of board members and she does not foresee the administrator needing an assistant in the future.

“She’s getting the job done for us,” Rabe added.

Looking at other counties around the state, Rabe said Whiteside County is the only county comparable to Bureau County’s population that has a larger representation. Looking at counties twice the size of Bureau County, 11 of them are 21-members or greater.

The board meets twice before the July 1 deadline. More discussion on this issue is expected to be had at the next regular county board meeting on May 11.