Kane County Reporter

At its Jan. 17 meeting, Batavia City Council voted to put a referendum on April's ballot to make the city clerk and city treasurer positions appointed, rather than elected, posts.

If the referendum is approved by voters, city council would appoint the city clerk and treasurer.

“Having these be appointed positions also allows us to set the criteria for which there are qualifications for these positions and allows us also to hold those in the positions accountable and manage the performance of the work that is performed," said Laura Newman, city administrator of Batavia. "And so we think it is in the best interest of the city to have these be appointed versus elected positions,” 

This change was brought on because in the last few elections there has been no candidate in the treasury position and most of the work in that position is currently being handled by the finance director, a position that is hired in a normal process by the city. The two previous clerks also expressed the difficulty involved in the position as it has an enormous amount of responsibilities and requires a lot of time. The board was told the post's salary required clerks to hold a second job.

If passed in April this change would allow council to change the salary of the offices. It is not able to change the compensation of an elected official, however an appointed position is under its jurisdiction.