Neighbor News
Statement: Will Board Chair Judy Ogalla by County Board Chief of Staff
Democrats took a calculated risk, instead of negotiating in good faith, and lost
Statement for County Board Chair, Judy Ogalla by County Board Chief of Staff
A person who chooses to run for elected office should do so because they want to be a public servant, after all, their salary is paid for by the taxpayer.
It should be noted that nothing has prevented the Democratic members of the Will County Board from having discussions outside of a formal meeting to discuss salary increases for County Wide Elected officials (Treasurer, Auditor, County Clerk, County Executive, Clerk of the Court, Coroner, recorder of deeds), and County Board members. They did not take the initiative. A proposal could have been prepared and presented at a Special Board Meeting anytime if they had taken the initiative. This failure lies solely in their lap.
Republican County Board members were against any type of raise. As a republican and the County Board Chair Judy Ogalla, scheduled a Committee of the Whole to have this discussion on May 14th. The Democratic Board members, that took the time to attend, did not come forward with a proposal or any substantive discussion. In fact, the Democratic Leader left the meeting after 12 minutes. There was never any intention to have meaningful discussion on the salary increase.
Chair Ogalla then took the initiative, against her caucus’ wishes, to schedule a Special Board meeting to have a vote on salary increases prior to the statutory deadline (keep in mind any member of the County Board could set a special meeting, at any time, by obtaining 8 signatures of other County Board Members ).
Attendance at the Special Board Meeting was equal with 9 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Any tie would have been broken by the County Executive. The morning was spent attempting to work out an agreement between the two parties. Chair Ogalla would have agreed to a small raise, and her vote in the affirmative would have passed the salary increases.
It became obvious that the Democratic Caucus, the County Executive, and the County Clerk were working together to stall the meeting. The County Executive, who never likes to start a meeting late, called the meeting to order approximately 15 minutes late. The County Clerk called roll call like she was unfamiliar with the names of the County Board members. The Democratic County Board Members asked inane questions about a resolution to hire a consultant to assist the Landfill Committee. The clear evidence of the stalling tactic was the late arrival (40 minutes after the scheduled start of the meeting) of County Board Member El Costa, who previously advised she could not attend the meeting due to a previously scheduled work matter.
The Republican caucus stopped the manipulation by the Democrats. The Democrats took a calculated risk, instead of negotiating in good faith, and lost.
County Board Chair Judy Ogalla
Republican Leader Steve Balich comments:
The Republicans left the meeting causing no Quorum and no vote to give any pay increases. Pay increases need to happen 6 months prior to the next election per State Law. Time runs out as of June 5th so there are no pay increases for any elected positions for County Board or County wide offices. County Board pay of $23,000 per Year stays the same.
Republicans know there is rarely a problem getting people to run for any of these positions, and the pay is known in advance. It is only a problem for the Democrats that think they should be paid more once they win the office. Some Democrats only show up for the Full County Board meeting once a month and get $23,000.
https://youtu.be/lBsXQfGVFZ4
