The Campton Hills Village Board voted Nov. 4 to approve the night's warrant while directing that printed checks not be dispersed until a trustee reviews them the following morning.

The motion to approve the warrant but delay distribution was made by Trustee Frank and seconded by Trustee Therese; the motion passed by roll call. Trustees spent an extended portion of the meeting debating whether the village should continue using printed checks with wet signatures or move to ACH and electronic approvals.

The discussion centered on how trustees can perform fiduciary review before checks leave the Treasurer's office and on maintaining the statutory checks and balances required for municipal payments. "If you move from a wet signature to a facsimile or electronic signature, you have to pass a resolution to authorize that and then put a copy of those signatures on file with the Secretary of State," Village Attorney Carmen said, advising the board that a formal resolution and updated internal policy would be needed to change signature methods.

Trustees who argued for change called the continued use of paper checks "silly" in 2025 and said ACH would reduce fraud risk and administrative burden; trustees who urged caution stressed the need to preserve dual-approval controls. "There still needs to be checks and balances," Trustee Kim said, noting local requirements for two-person approval of fiduciary disbursements.

Board members directed staff to evaluate procedures for allowing trustees to review checks before distribution and asked the Treasurer and auditors for recommendations on internal controls. Several trustees asked staff to return with options for a resolution authorizing any change in signature method, implementation steps, and the vendor features needed to provide multi-user approval on ACH transactions.

Because the board approved only the warrant motion recorded on the meeting agenda, the village did not adopt a permanent change in payment method at the Nov. 4 meeting; counsel recommended any permanent switch to facsimile or electronic signatures be memorialized in a resolution and, where appropriate, a revised village code or internal policy.