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Forest Park council agrees to explore placing home-rule question on ballot
Summary
A council member asked the Forest Park Village Council to consider putting a Home Rule referendum on a future ballot. Staff outlined timing constraints, said the village can provide only factual information, and said any campaign would need to be citizen-led and funded separately.
Council discussion turned to the question of Home Rule after a council member proposed putting a Home Rule referendum on a future ballot and asked colleagues whether the council should move forward with an ordinance to place the question before voters.
The proposing member (Committee member, Speaker 2) said the council could act to put a referendum on the ballot so that residents could decide. "I would like to raise that as something, I would like us as a council to do to put it on the ballot," the member said, framing the request as a decision to put the question before voters rather than a statement of support for Home Rule.
Staff (Speaker 5) explained the procedural and timing issues the council must consider when placing a referendum question on a ballot: which election to target and statutory lead times (the speaker described a typical time frame on the order of several months, noting an approximate 78–98 day count-back without specifying the exact statutory citation). The staff member emphasized the village's limited role in campaigns: "From the village's perspective, the only thing that staff can do is provide factual information. We cannot allocate financial resources to any type of campaign."
Several members said a citizen-led effort may be preferable because it encourages stronger community engagement. One council member (Speaker 3) said Home Rule is not well understood by many residents and favored a citizen-led campaign to foster public education and buy-in.
What was decided: The council sought consensus to consider Home Rule and directed staff to provide timing and signature-count information needed to place a referendum question on a ballot; no referendum question was ordered or placed at this meeting.
Next steps: Staff will prepare details on election timing, signature requirements and the options for council- or citizen-initiated placement of a Home Rule question. Any campaign to promote a referendum would need to be citizen-led and funded separately from village resources.
Ending: The council moved to other items after staff described the timing constraints and its limited role in campaigning.
