Winners and losers as Kendall County Clerk conducts lottery for County Board term lengths

YORKVILLE – Kendall County Clerk Debbie Gillette drew ping-pong balls bearing the names of County Board members from a plastic Floger’s Classic Roast coffee can held by State’s Attorney Eric Weis to

The drawing decided which board members receive four-year terms and those who get two-year terms, all dated from last December’s installation of the newly elected board.

The lottery came as a result of a legal settlement with Todd Milliron of Yorkville, who filed a lawsuit against the board over a vote-based system that the previous Kendall County Board approved last year.

Those receiving four-year terms through the lottery were Jason Peterson of Yorkville, Ruben Rodriguez of Yorkville, Elizabeth Flowers of Montgomery, Matt Kellogg of Yorkville and Brooke Shanley of Aurora.

The other five board members will need to begin circulating nominating petitions next month if they wish to run for reelection in 2024.

They received two-year terms and include Scott Gengler of Yorkville, Brian DeBolt of Plano, Dan Koukol of Oswego, Seth Wormley of Millbrook and Zach Bachmann of Montgomery.

The drawing changed the term lengths for six of the 10 County Board members.

Peterson, Kellogg and Shanley were the beneficiaries, gaining an additional two years on their terms.

Gengler, DeBolt and Koukol were the effective losers, seeing their current terms of office reduced to two years.

DeBolt said he will run for reelection. Gengler and Koukol said they have not decided.

To start the lottery, Gillette drew a numbered ball to determine which of the two County Board districts would get three four-year terms. She drew the ball for District 2, which covers the east half of the county.

Every 10 years, the entire county board is up for election to allow for redistricting after the decennial Census. Terms of office are staggered so that half the board seats are up for election every two years.

Milliron challenged the board’s new system, designed to give the four-year terms to the five candidates with the highest vote totals, contending that state election law requires the determination to be made by a lottery.

In last year’s November general election, the top vote-getters were DeBolt, Flowers, Gengler, Rodriguez and Koukol. They each received four-year terms.

With the period for circulating nominating petitions for the 2024 elections beginning next month, the County Board settled the lawsuit in Milliron’s favor. During legal proceedings, it was becoming increasingly clear that the board was going to lose the case.

Milliron filed the lawsuit in Kendall County Circuit Court in September last year charging that the system violates state elections law.

In the November election, Milliron was running for a county board seat under the independent Kendall County Party label but was not elected.

The Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office sought to have Milliron’s lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that he did not win a seat on the board and therefore had no legal standing, but Associate Judge Joseph Voiland rejected that argument and allowed the lawsuit to proceed.

Board members said their vote-total system was better and fairer than selections made by chance, but in his lawsuit, Milliron contended that a random selection is exactly what is required under state statute.

Milliron, who has been a candidate for the County Board seven times but has never been elected, said he plans to run again in the next election.

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Winners and losers as Kendall County Clerk conducts lottery for County Board term lengths