Kendall candidate files lawsuit against county board over staggered term selection

YORKVILLE – A candidate for a seat on the Kendall County Board has filed a lawsuit against the board over its plan for determining how terms are to be staggered after the Nov. 8 election.

Todd Milliron of Yorkville, who is running for a seat on the board from District 1 under the Kendall County Party label, filed the lawsuit in Kendall County Circuit Court on Sept. 19, seeking a declaratory judgment.

The next morning, Milliron appeared at the county board’s regular meeting to repeat his assertion that an ordinance approved by the board on Aug. 2 is illegal.

The entire 10-member county board is up for election every 10 years after the decennial U.S. census.

In the past, five board members have been assigned four-year terms, while the other five receive two year terms, with the decision left to chance. Typically, the county clerk draws numbered pingpong balls to make the selections.

With the staggered terms of office decided, half the board members are up for election every two years until after the next census.

On Aug. 2, the board approved a plan in which the newly elected members will be assigned slots in a descending order based on their election vote totals, with the biggest vote-getters starting with the four-year terms.

Board members said this system is better than the selections made by chance.

Milliron, however, contends that a random selection process is precisely what is required under state statute and previously asked for a formal legal review of the ordinance.

“This all could have been prevented if this had not been rushed and regular order was followed,” Milliron told board members on Sept. 20.

Milliron charged the county government was stonewalling his request for a legal opinion from the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office and so he filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

“All I got was a black hole of redactions,” Milliron said. “There has been no transparency in regards to this ordinance or the requested documentation for legal review.”

“When you all were sworn in for this current term you all took an oath to follow and uphold the laws of the state of Illinois,” Milliron told the board. “I believe this is something you failed to do on Aug. 2. So now, this will be let to a judge to determine.”

Milliron said his case, filed in chancery court, is not expected to he heard until Dec. 9, after the election and after the new terms of office have been established.

Milliron is making his seventh attempt to be elected to the county board.

Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis declined to comment on Milliron’s lawsuit.

County Board members are elected from two districts, with five members each.

Population growth has been very evenly distributed across Kendall County over the past 10 years and the two County Board districts did not need to be reapportioned after the 2020 Census.

District 1 covers the western side of the county and, geographically, is the larger of the two.

It includes most of Yorkville and portions of Montgomery and Sandwich, along with Plano, Bristol, Millbrook, Plattville, Newark and Lisbon.

District 2 includes Oswego, Boulder Hill and portions of Yorkville, Montgomery, Aurora, Plainfield, Minooka and Joliet.

Census results show District 1 with 65,419 residents and District 2 with a population of 65,702.

Under the term-staggering plan approved by the board, the top three vote-getters in District 1 will be assigned a “4-4-2″ schedule, which will continue through the 10-year period whether or not the 2022 election winner serves any subsequent terms of office.

The other two board members from District 1 will serve a “2-4-4″ schedule.

In District 2, the top two vote-getters will gain a “4-4-2″ slot, while the other three will be assigned “2-4-4″ schedules.

Ten years ago, District 2 received three slots with the “4-4-2″ schedule, so this time around District 1 gets three.

On Nov. 8, voters in each district will cast ballots for five County Board candidates in a partisan election.

In District 1, Republican candidates include incumbent board members Brian DeBolt of Plano and Yorkville residents Scott Gengler and Ruben Rodriguez, along with Yorkville Alderman Jason Peterson and Millbrook Trustee Seth Wormley.

Those Republicans will face off against Milliron, as well as Democrat Malanda Griffin of Yorkville.

In District 2, incumbents Dan Koukol of Oswego and Matt Kellogg of Yorkville are seeking reelection.

The GOP field also includes former Oswego Village President Brian LeClercq, Oswego Township Trustee Donna Sawicki and Kendall County Young Republicans Chairman Gabriella Shanahan of Joliet.

The three Democrats on the ballot in District 2 include incumbent board member Elizabeth Flowers of Montgomery, Brooke Shanley of Aurora and Zach Bachmann of Oswego.