Campton Hills trustees voted 4-1 on Feb. 18 to reject an amendment that would have changed the village president’s appointment to the technology committee liaison, preserving the board’s practice of assigning a named trustee liaison.

The vote came after a lengthy discussion in which Trustee Ed Muncie moved to amend the agenda item to read “Motion to approve and consent to the village president’s appointment of any trustee to the technology committee as trustee liaison.” Trustee McKelvey seconded the motion. Trustee Burson cast the lone vote in favor; Trustees Muncie, Boatner, McAlvey and Williams voted no. President Wieneke announced, “The noes have it.”

Trustees split on whether the liaison role remains necessary. Muncie said the village’s volunteer committees — including technology — have been running well without a board liaison and that appointing a liaison was not needed at this time. “Right now I’m saying, you know, looking at the landscape … let’s just not appoint anybody right now and see how it goes,” Muncie said.

Trustee Burson argued trusteeship of technology oversight provides a necessary conduit when committees handle systems or security matters that could require board awareness. “For us to have a technology committee which may have certain access to systems … and have there be no conduit back to the board doesn’t make sense,” Burson said.

Trustee Williams and others praised the volunteer committee’s work; Williams said committees can produce ideas free of political pressure and that the board should be careful not to strip volunteers of authority. Administrator Rooney and staff confirmed the technology committee currently makes recommendations to the administrator and works with the village’s contracted technology vendor, Helping Hands.

The board handled the item as part of the consent/committee-appointment section of the meeting. The amendment’s defeat means the existing appointment process — the village president’s authority to name a trustee liaison to committees under village code — remains unchanged.

Trustees agreed that the question can be revisited after upcoming changes to committee chairs and following the spring election period.

Ending

The board moved on to other business after the vote. Several trustees said committees may request a liaison later if they need one.