Will County committee advances rewrite of board rules, asks legal check on chairing and virtual-attendance language

The Will County Board Rules Review Committee voted April 8 to forward a revised draft of county board rules and portions of the code (Title 30, Administration) to the Executive Committee while requesting legal research on who may chair a standing committee when both the chair and vice chair are absent.

The motion, made by Member Newquist and seconded by Member Freeman, asked staff to confirm whether the county ordinance and the committee rules align on whether the county board speaker (the speaker chair) can serve as an ex officio member of committees and fill temporary vacancies with voting privileges; the committee approved the referral with no recorded opposition. "As the presiding officer of the executive committee, the county board speaker chair shall be an ex officio member of all other committees and may, in the event of a temporary committee vacancy, fill such vacancies for the purpose of establishing a quorum with voting privileges," the draft ordinance reads; the committee asked staff to confirm the practical and legal effect of that language.

Why it matters: the draft revises long-standing internal procedures for how matters are assigned to committees, who can serve and vote on committees, and how members may attend and…