Champaign Co Bd Votes to Put Advisory Board Reduction Measure on Ballot

An advisory referendum to reduce the size of the Champaign County Board will be on the ballot this November. County Board members voted 21 to 4 Thursday night to put the question before the voters.

Few county board members --- even those against shrinking the board's size ---- wanted to be seen as denying voters the chance to weigh in on the matter. One who did vote no was Democrat Alan Kurtz. He says cutting the county board from its current 27 seats down to 22 would hurt the level of diversity among board members.

"I enjoy the diversity on the board", Kurtz told his fellow board members, "the rural representation, the minority representation, the expertise, and experience of our board members, who all bring something to the table."

But others, like Republican Alan Nudo, say a smaller county board would be more accountable, and retaining multi-member districts would help it stay diverse.

"With 27 members, it's a little bit too much", says Nudo. "I think 22 will give it the diversity that we need, that many people want. And I think the biggest issue for me is that compact and contiguous districts will produce the diversity that we want to get."

The proposed county board reduction is a compromise for some members, who wanted an even smaller board, or preferred single-member districts. Democrat Brendan McGinty first proposed the county board reduction, along with Republican Greg Knott. McGinty says the current county board is "dysfunctional", and admits he'd like the reduction to go further.

"I'd love for the board to be much smaller", says McGinty, "but I'm willing to compromise, because this is a good step. It might be baby steps, but this will create, in my opinion, more accountability. This is a good thing to do."

State law says that the county board reduction referendum must be non-binding, and that only a local county board can officially decide how many members it should have.