The DuPage County Forest Preserve District shared an elected board with DuPage County for many years until the two government entities split in 2002.  The change came after legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly in 1996 mandated that forest preserve district commissioners in counties having a population greater than 800,000 but less than 3,000,000 be elected separately from county board members.  DuPage County cut the county board's size from 25 (24 plus a chairman) to 18, and created the seven-member forest preserve commission (6 commissioners plus a president).  The split ensured that both the DuPage County Board members and [...]

Another example of the potential conflict of interest posed by commissioners serving on both boards is the Fabyan Woods/Settler's Hill development plan.  The 700+ acre Fabyan Parkway campus includes the former Settler's Hill landfills, Settler's Hill Golf Course, the former Kane County Jail site, Cougars Stadium, Striker's Soccer facility, the Fox Valley Ice Arena, and the eastern part of Fabyan Woods Forest Preserve.  Kane County owns the jail site and one of the landfills; the Kane County Forest Preserve District owns the other land fill, the Ice Arena, the Stadium, Striker's Soccer facility, and Fabyan Forest Preserve.  The Fabyan Property [...]

The Brunner Forest Preserve is a good example.  Its acquisition was a high priority of the Forest Preserve District, based on size, natural areas, and river frontage.  But equally important, the County needed to acquire the road right of way for the Longmeadow Parkway and bridge.  The County had begun acquiring critical road right-of-way parcels in 2004, and in 2005 succeeded in getting $4 million in Federal funds from SAFETEA-LU earmarked for right-of-way acquisition and engineering for the Longmeadow Parkway.  The project's estimated cost of $88 million at the time (now more than twice that amount) far exceeded typical Federal [...]

In Kane County, the elected County Board members also serve as the Forest Preserve District Commissioners.  While this is a common practice of long standing, there is an inherent conflict of interest in "wearing two hats" when the interests of the County overlap and sometimes conflict with the interests of the Forest Preserve.  These two separate and distinct legal entities, supported by different taxes, have different missions.  For example, it is the County's job to promote economic development and to build roads and bridges, while the Forest Preserve District seeks to preserve natural areas, i.e., keep natural areas from being [...]