Elmhurst Alderman Pushes Smaller City Council

ELMHURST, IL – An Elmhurst alderman wants to halve the City Council's size, from 14 members to seven.

Alderman Rex Irby has created a website promoting the idea. And he has been collecting signatures to put the measure on next April's ballot. He said he has about 500 of the more than 900 needed.

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The mayor is opposed. So is one of his predecessors.

The local council has 14 members, two for each of the seven wards. It's far larger than those in nearly all other towns in the area. (West Chicago, though, has the same number.)

On the website, Irby said a smaller council would bring clearer accountability and more meaningful deliberation.

One of Irby's biggest qualms is that nearly all the council's work is done in four committees – finance, public works, public safety and zoning.

"More Council discussions could take place together, rather than across four committee meetings held at the same time," Irby's website said.

"One alderman per ward makes it clear who is responsible for neighborhood issues," the website said. "Residents can see if their alderman is doing the job."

In an interview, Irby, a one-term alderman who is not seeking re-election, said the committees can get in the way.

When he joined the council, Irby said he was told, "You should have trust in the work of the committees. If you don't trust another committee's work, other committees won't trust your committee."

Mayor Scott Levin disagreed with reducing the council. He said the four committees allow elected officials to dig deep into issues.

Without the committees, the mayor said, the council would be unable to do all the work.

"We have a very sophisticated, involved council," he said.

He said he wished Irby had brought the proposed measure to the council to evaluate it.

"We could have looked at the pros and cons," he said.

In an interview, former Mayor Tom Marcucci called Irby's proposal a "terrible idea."

With 14 aldermen, seven seats are up for election every two years.

"The city government cannot get swept away with a political fad or flavor of the year," said Marcucci, who served from 1993 to 2009. "This prevents the town from getting carried away with one hot issue."

Also, a larger council allows members with more experience to remain, serving as mentors, Marcucci said.

"There's always institutional memory on the dais," he said.

He said there's no question that Irby is committed to the proposal. At the same time, Marcucci said, "I'm suspicious of this coming out of nowhere."