County Committees: Judiciary

County Committees: Judiciary

This post continues my exploration of the duties of county board members - one question voters ask me regularly. In addition to the monthly board meetings, board members are assigned to committees by the County Chairman, which also meet monthly. These committees provide oversight of the operations of the county departments, representing the interests of voters.

Judiciary

This Committee shall:

1. Prepare and/or review all resolutions, ordinances and policies from all committees and county officials.
2. Keep the County Code up to date with all revisions on an annual basis.
3. Review all matters pertaining to elections, precinct designations and County Board Districts.
4. Review and analyze all local, state and federal legislation affecting County government.
5. Review the minutes of all board meetings for accuracy.
6. Review County laws annually and prepare and submit recommendations for change.

Another standing committee, the Judiciary has the above responsibilities defined in the County Code. Additionally, the Judiciary Committee can recommend changes to the rules of the County Board (codified in Section 1-4-1 of the Administration Code).

As I've been writing about the various committees, I've been referring to the County Code posted on the County website as my source of information. The website says each chapter of the code was last updated on "7/1/2020" but the files themselves have differing file modification dates: Administration (2016-01-26), Boards and Commissions (2012-11-30), and Zoning (2020-02-12). It appears that each chapter of the code should be reviewed and updated. If appointed to the Judiciary committee, I will advocate for reviewing and updating each chapter of the County Code and having the updated version published to the County's website each year.

In 2020, the federal decennial census was conducted. Illinois decreased in population since the last census as did St. Clair county. To account for this change, Congressional and County Board districts were redrawn to ensure each district represents (roughly) the same number of people. In St. Clair, the Judiciary Committee should have reviewed the new county board maps before they were presented to the County Board in May (I have not been able to confirm that happened). The Committee did approve the legal descriptions of the maps in July. Between July and the special meeting in November, the Judiciary Committee had no further deliberations on the new district boundaries recorded in their minutes. While the districts have been approved and voters will be electing board members within those districts, this is an example where this committee can influence (or fail to influence) the county for a decade at a time.

In our representative government, we elect people to consider the needs and desires of our families and neighborhoods as well as the needs of our municipalities, townships, and counties. I will do my best to make sure the county follows its own laws as well as applies them fairly to the people.

EDIT 2022-08-22: formatting