What appears to be a difficult task is facing the McHenry County Board. It is necessary to redistrict the County Board. Currently there are six districts, each represented by four elected County Board members.
The population has changed since the last redistricting and some of the areas have lost population. Much of this is due to maturing families.
The total population of the county is 308,000 which will have to be divided into as nearly equal population for each district when it is decided how many districts to use. The County now has computer software which will greatly assist in the task. However, the hard part is deciding just how many disdtricts there should be and how many board members foreach district.
Considerable discussion took place at a Thursday morning meeting of the Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. Tom Carroll of the State's Attorney's Office explained that State Law requires the discussion to first relate to the number of members there will be on the County Board before the size of the board can change. The will also determine how many voters will comprise a county board district. The law requires the board to consist of not less than five but not more than 29 members.
Some of the committee desired to see single member districts while others want to see a certain number of constituents represented by a certain number of Board members. According to information from County Clerk Kathy Schultz, her office will have to send notification to voters regarding what the final decision is and advising each voter of the District they are included.
Following a great deal of discussion nothing was decided other than they will be meeting again. Ms. Schultz also notes that if no decision is made by the County Board by July 1, the decision will have to be made for them, according to State law.
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