Busy Time In Some Areas Tonight

Tuesday could be a busy night for some Illinois citizens. This is the date of the Annual Township Meeting. There are 102 counties in the state, with 85 of them divided into 1,433 townships serving more than 8 million people. The remaining 17 counties are divided into 261 precincts. These operate under a different form of county government.

Illinois Statutes provide that "Notice of the time and place of holding township meetings and the agenda approved by the township board at their prior meeting shall be given by the township clerk (or, in the clerk's absence, the supervisor, assessor, or the collector) by posting written or printed notices in 3 of the most public places in the township at least 10 days before the meeting and, if there is an English language newspaper published in the township, by at least one publication in that newspaper before the meeting. That notice shall set forth the agenda as approved by the township board. Additional agenda items may be added only by a three-fifths majority vote of the electors in attendance at the meeting."

How It Began
In Illinois, townships were established as units of state government under the 2nd Illinois Constitution of 1848. Up to this point, a County Commission form of local government prevailed. Under this form, the county unit was the governing body, with commissioners responsible for the administrative and legislative affairs of towns and villages within a county.

In 1849, voters within Illinois counties were given the right to adopt the township form of local government. With the option of choosing a township type of government, voters had the opportunity to elect officials from their local communities who would be directly responsible for conducting business necessary to maintain their communities.

Townships near Crystal Lake include Algonquin, Dorr, Grafton and Nunda. All will be conducting annual townships meetings Tuesday evening.

Algonquin Township
No detailed information was found on the Algonquin Township website regarding the annual meeting which is being held in the Township office, 3702 US Highway 14, Crystal Lake.

Dorr Township
Dorr Township is holding its annual meeting in the Woodstock High School, 501 West South Street, Woodstock, beginning at 7:00 pm. No further information was provided.

Grafton Township
Grafton Township, no doubt, will have the largest attendance. That meeting is being held in the Huntley High School Central Gym (entry through Door 19), 13719 Harmony Road, Huntley.

The agenda found on that township website indicates handling the necessary Annual Meeting Business such as approval of minutes from the previous year's meeting, presentation of annual financial reports by the Supervisor and the Highway Commissioner.

Under Old Business, an overview of issues related to Township Hall/New Township Hall/court order is to be presented by the Township attorney.

A number of resolutions are listed including:
Authorization the purchase of Township Real Property by the Grafton Township Road District;
Authorization the Conveyance of Road District Real Property;
Authorizing the lease of Road District real property:
Authorizing the Township to lease real property:
Authorizing the purchase of Village Real Property by Grafton Township (Haligus Road):
Authorizing the Sale of Township Real Property (Haligus Road):
There is also to be general discussion of Township hall space, potential new town hall or potential lease of space for township hall and financing options related to these;
Potential action on purchase, sale, conveyance of the township's corporate property, or the lease of township property, or other lawful action under State Statute 60 ILCS 1/30-50.

Additionally, new business includes a motion to sell surplus road district equipment including a 1995 International Dump Truck and a 1997 Chevy Silverado Pick-up Truck.
Also a motion to sell surplus township equipment, though not described.
There will also be a motion to set the Annual Town meeting for Tuesday, April 12, 2011.

Nunda Township
In Nunda Township, an agenda on the Township website indicates a question to be resolved by the Electors:
"Do you authorize the following advisory question of public policy to be placed on the ballot at the next regularly scheduled election in the Township?
Shall the Nunda Township Open Space Plan which was adopted in April of 2007 be repealed?"

Any voting on the matters handled in the township meeting can only be done by registered voters in the township. Voter registration cards used in the regular county elections will be used to verify voter registration.