Above / Since May 3, 2015, under leadership of Mayor Steve Chirico, the newly-elected Naperville City Council has been conducting local government business for residents, taking a fresh look at many policies and procedures to deliver efficiencies and lower taxes. (PN File Photo)
Open Letter to the Community / Mayor’s message regarding City’s proposal for intergovernmental agreement with the Naperville Township Highway Department
It has been almost a year since the City of Naperville’s elected leadership had its largest
turnover in a generation. The voters sent a clear message to city hall: take a fresh look at how and why the city conducts its business with the goal of delivering higher-value, lower-cost government.
The idea is relatively simple, but like anything involving government, overly complex in its intricacies. The city has proposed entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the Naperville Township Highway Department to provide maintenance, plowing and rebuilding of the roads in the highway district, resulting in a substantial cost savings for taxpayers.
The city can provide this service cheaper because it has about 30 times the amount of roadways as the township road district. Economies of scale benefit taxpayers, resulting in lower costs.
Cooperation between the township and the city already exists as we have other agreements in place. The police department is already the first responder to many, if not most, 9-1-1 calls to unincorporated Naperville residents. Naperville residents pay for these police services for unincorporated neighborhoods because public safety is in the best interest of the community at large.
The most important criteria in evaluating this intergovernmental agreement will be to ensure that all taxpayers are well served, and that quality services can be delivered for less money than is currently being spent.
The Township Highway Department currently provides service levels that are in excess of those provided by the city, such as complimentary mulch delivery. Under the agreement, the city would provide unincorporated township residents the same level of service for brush and leaf pick up, plowing and street sweeping that over 50,000 homes receive within the city. Naperville is known for having one of the most robust levels of service in the suburbs.
No one is proposing to eliminate this unit of local government. Doing so would be overly complex and incur significant legal expenses that benefit lawyers, but not taxpayers. The Naperville Township Highway Commissioner will still be the elected representative of the road district responsible for monitoring the delivery of the services called for in the contract, managing his budget, setting the road district levy and managing the cash reserves as well as other administrative responsibilities.
The easiest, and most cost efficient way to provide savings for taxpayers is to create a long-term contract between the City of Naperville and the Naperville Township Highway Department.
As a separately elected and stand alone unit of government, this decision is supported by the Council and majority of township trustees, but rests solely with the highway commissioner.
Time and time again, elected officials have bemoaned the sheer size and breadth of Illinois’ thousands of sub-units of government. This is a time for action, to deliver on the promises of more efficient government.
Restructuring government is difficult work. The status quo is an able and formidable opponent that often wins over change and financial savings. While this partnership agreement might be an arduous task to accomplish, it is the right thing for our community.
We will continue to advocate for taxpayer savings and ask for your vocal support in the weeks and months ahead.
—Steve Chirico, Mayor of the City of Naperville
Mayor Steve Chirico can be reached at (630) 420-6018 or mayor@naperville.il.us.
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