Most of the campaign signs have been taken down, and the voters have spoken once again.
While the local elected positions are filled for now, there’s many ways residents can get involved in city government including serving on appointed boards and commissions.
All five first-time City Council members-elect are leaving behind appointed positions they now hold on advisory panels that review proposals and requests, formulating recommendations they then pass along to the council for consideration and a final vote. City ordinance demands that they relinquish those positions when they join the council.
Becky Anderson currently chairs the Advisory Cultural Commission, the group that winnows down the applications for each year’s $2 million Special Events and Cultural Amenities grant cycle. Rebecca Boyd-Obarski, chairwoman of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, also will be stepping down from that post. Current Planning & Zoning Commissioners Kevin Coyne and Patty Gustin, who chairs that group, are moving to the council dais too, and Public Utilities Advisory Board Chairman John Krummen is resigning to become a councilman as well.
Krummen said his four years leading the utility board – during which the group has become a more active presence in the municipality’s electric and water services than it had been in the past – have helped position him for his new duties on the council.
“We dig deep where we need to dig deep. We don’t just gloss over things,” Krummen said. “Learning how the city works and the official processes work, that was very, very informative.”
He said he expects to continue participating on the utility board as its council liaison. City code requires one council member to serve on every board that falls under the city budget. Along with the utility board, those include the Naper Settlement Museum Board, Board of Library Trustees, Financial Advisory Board, Sister Cities Commission and Riverwalk Commission
For newly re-elected Councilwoman Judy Brodhead, having a hand in the municipal process as a member of the Plan Commission, and its later incarnation as the Planning & Zoning Commission, was good training prior to joining the council in 2009. She said she especially valued the interactions among residents, staff, media, applicants and the commissioners as they helped guide the comprehensive development of subdivisions and commercial properties in the late 1990s and early part of the new millennium.
“You really got a great feel for all the many interests and stakeholders that are involved in the process,” said Brodhead, who also is a veteran of the Transportation Advisory Board.
She was particularly appreciative for the nonbinding nature of the appointed roles’ missions.
“When you’re on an advisory commission, you can say, ‘Hey, we’re just making a recommendation that goes on to the City Council,'” she said. “That’s a nice position to be in, because the people you are working with understand that you aren’t making the decision.”
Thirteen of the city’s boards and commissions now have openings available for volunteers interested in filling them, and a total of 29 positions currently are in need of volunteers to fill them, according to city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche.
They include all seven seats on the Liquor Commission, which is headed by the mayor. Also open are four positions on the Planning & Zoning Commission, three spots on the Historic Preservation Commission and two openings each on the Advisory Commission on Disabilities, the Advisory Cultural Commission and the Transportation Advisory Board. In addition to the posts being vacated by Boyd-Obarski and Krummen, single positions are available on the Financial Advisory Board, the Riverwalk Commission and the Sister Cities Commission. Under regulations governing some of the boards’ and commissions’ composition, the one vacancy on the Building Review Board needs an appointee with expertise in the electrical trade, and the three open seats on the Downtown Advisory Commission must be filled by two downtown property owners and a landscape designer.
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Applications for Naperville’s available spots are due by May 1 and will be reviewed by Mayor-elect Steve Chirico, who will select candidates for final approval by the City Council. Chirico and the eight newly-elected council members will be seated in a ceremony on May 3.
More information about the available appointed positions, and an application form, can be found at http://www.naperville.il.us/boards.aspx.
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