Discussion of Naperville’s campaign finance reform ordinance was tabled until fall so staff can research best practices and the new council being seated in May can have a workshop on the subject.
The Naperville City Council was scheduled to vote Tuesday on a request by Mayor Steve Chirico to rescind the ordinance that includes a requirement for council members to publicly disclose campaign donations of $750 or more when voting on a topic in which the donor has an interest.
Rather than tossing the entire ordinance or tabling it indefinitely, Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor suggested the council hold off any vote until Oct. 17.
“I don’t want this unintentionally forgotten about,” Taylor said.
The move will give staff ample time to study what other communities have done so the council can hold a workshop in September where additional wording or changes can be considered, she said.
The council voted 7-2 on Taylor’s suggestion, with Patrick Kelly and Theresa Sullivan in dissent.
Kelly said he’d prefer to table the discussion indefinitely and let the new council decide when it wants to take up the issue.
Chirico called for rescinding the ordinance last month, saying its goal of making the process more transparent and removing big money from municipal races have done the opposite. Outside monetary influences are affecting local elections because some smaller, local donors are shying away from giving to avoid having their contributions disclosed publicly during votes.
His thought was to eliminate the flawed ordinance and have the new council craft something better, he said.
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After going through the recent mayoral election, Councilman Benny White said he would entertain a higher threshold for disclosing contributions because $750 seems low.
The dynamics of financing a campaign has changed in the last four years and so much more money is needed, he said.
“It’s probably worth some discussion to figure out how to make it better. … I think we have an opportunity to make this thing do what it was intended to do from a transparency standpoint,” White said.