Q the Eye/06.20.22

Dear LakeCountyEye,

I may be gone but all of these Townships are not.

How do the Lake County voters go about eliminating their Townships?

Boo to Townships

Dear David McSweeney's Ghost,

The voters in McHenry County have the power to eliminate their Townships. But a referendum never got to the voters there, because of some low-quality County Clerk who illegally removed it from the ballot:

The McHenry County clerk did not have the authority to throw out a McHenry Township ballot question, even if it was almost identical to a question rejected months earlier, the Illinois Supreme Court said in a decision Wednesday. The legal battle centered on whether a referendum question put forth by McHenry Township trustees asking voters if they wanted to dissolve the township should have remained on the November 2020 ballot.
McHenry County clerk erred in township ballot issue, Illinois Supreme Court rules

So if you are saddled with a low-quality County Clerk then don't try this option.  Full disclosure: This means you, Lake County!

No, just do what they did in Shields Township. Elect candidates to your Township government who will all resign:

Shields Township Supervisor Heather Kerr said she tendered her resignation from office claiming she could not work out her differences
Shields Township supervisor explains reasons for resignation; ‘I had hoped we could come to good, safe resolutions for everyone’

Besides Kerr, several deputy assessors said they would also be resigning Monday in the latest development in a very rocky period for the obscure government agency.
Shields Township supervisor explains reasons for resignation; ‘I had hoped we could come to good, safe resolutions for everyone’

Assessor Scott Helton also said in April he would be leaving and he did follow through and his resignation became effective in May. Earlier in June, township attorney Keri-Lyn J. Krafthefer informed Kerr that she would be resigning effective June 17.
Shields Township supervisor explains reasons for resignation; ‘I had hoped we could come to good, safe resolutions for everyone’

For those scoring at home, that's one Lake County Township down, seventeen to go.

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