Palatine Township Rejects Voter Initiative
The Palatine Township Board has refused to allow voters at the April 16th annual meeting to consider asking the Board to study the benefits of eliminating the township’s Road District. In a March 19th email, Township Clerk Lisa Moran stated that the petition by 30 voters to include the item on the annual meeting agenda was denied based on advice from the Board’s attorney. “The electors at an Annual Town Meeting cannot direct the Township Board to commission a study and make findings, as it is not a power granted to electors under the Township Code,” said Moran.
Matt Flamm, one of the voters who had requested the agenda item, replied to Moran. “The agenda item we requested would not ‘direct’ the Township Board to do anything,” said Flamm in an April 3rd email to Moran. “By its plain language, it would ‘request’ that the Board commission a study and make the results available to the citizens of the Township. It is certainly within the power of the citizens to make a request. The Township Board is violating Section 30-10(b) of the Township Code by refusing to include this agenda item for consideration at the annual meeting.”