So... Allan Poole calls for an audit, audit finds millions in mistakes, Allan is asked to leave city government and resigns the water commission, Tricky Dick is appointed to the commission. Is there a problem here!!!

Cincinnatus is there anything you aren't a willing Cronin tool for? Sure, pull it into the county-Schillerstrom knew it was a money making piggy bank; Cronin does too. It sure will be easier to have responsible balanced budgets when you can set the pricing for the most basic commodity.

Just think of all of the good the Dupage County Government could do with a new tax source like water. For just pennys more per household per hour government could solve all of our problems and create an economic boom on County Farm Road.

The best part is that any family that feels over taxed can opt out of using water.

If the current board was allowed to piss away millions on solar panels and gold plated offices they must have used the right contractors employing unionized trades.

The water commission was established to supply water to its communities. The reason it has problems is because of politics. Number one problem is Bill Murphy of Woodridge, the genius who promted lower water rates and rebates. Schillerstrom is a close second.

Did you look at the new solar panels at the pumping station on the Eisenhower? Did you go by the new headqusters where millions are being spent?

The answer. Stop the sales tax when the existing bonds are repaid in 2014. Make the water commission recover their costs from charges to the communities for water. End all the gold plated expenses and waste of money.

Lake County, JAWA, and the Norhwest Water commissions have all operated within their means. Make this entity run as a business rather than a government. Less taxes, less waste.

Since the Water Commission is a taxing authority in the state of Illinois, it should be under the direct authority of elected officials. Cronin's proposal puts the Water Commission under the oversight of already elected DuPage County Board officials within an existing bureaucracy. The only other choice would be to have the Water Commissioners directly elected by the citizens of DuPage County. This would lead to yet another level of government, in a state that already has TWICE the number of government agencies than the next highest number state. With another level of government, we would also see more headaches over districting of the Water Commission (c.f. the current controversy over the DuPage County Forest Preserve districting fight). Cronin's proposal brings the Water Commission under a current level of government, and eliminates the need for gerrymandering. Sounds like the least objectionable of the proposals. I guess Cronin could take the position espoused by his Democrat opponent, who wants to study the issue further, or Mayor Murphy of Woodbridge who wants to take a year or two to try to set things straight.

I think it would be a big mistake to make the DuPage County Board bigger by adding the DuPage County Water Commission under its control...keep them separate!! I worry about people who come out and say they want more power like Dan Cronin is doing here by proposing his legislation to dissolve the Water Commission. Ultimately if he gets elected, this benefits him personally by giving him more power!!

Thanks,

Kevin

Cronin is pimping for political power. What he proposes to merge the water commission into the county government isn't a cost effective solution and will only lead to more waste and mismanagement.

Let's not forget for one minute that the current DuPage county board appoints 1/2 of the water commission members. Let's not forget for one minute that Schillerstrom held the water commission political hostages and then raided the reserve funds for $70 some million which was the first step towards the current deficit. To extract the ransom for being held political hostage the six Mayors (including our wonderfully incompetent Mayor Pradel) and their political appointees only added to the situation by sucking another $40 some million out of the reserves.

Up until the time Schillerstrom started eyeing the water commission reserve funds the water commission had no budget gaps or deficits and the reserves would have been more than enough for them to have been able to ride out the current recession.

We taxpayers don't need or want the water commission to become part of the county government. We taxpayers don't need the water commission to maintain the status quo either. Instead, what we taxpayers need if for our state legislature to restructure the water commission in such a way that it becomes an independent elected body with officials who can be held personally accountable to the voting taxpayers.

If Cronin wants to introduce some legislation that makes some sense then he needs to draft a bill that will create a completely independent and autonomous elected body. If nothing else his current bill is pretty much tainted from the standpoint of being able to use his current elected position in an attempt to grease the wheels to expand his own scope of power for an office in which he is a candidate. That is downright underhanded and slimy. I wouldn't vote for this clown if he was the only candidate running.

Here's a proposal... Dick F. resigns from the Commission that he never should have been appointed to in the first place, and we support leaving them alone. I honestly don't know what's worse, Dick on the Commission or the County running it. You can see the stupidity of appointing Dick to this post. Should have never happened and now you have someone with no credibility making a good point. Brilliant.

Dan Cronin is going to make it worse by grabbing all the power and staffing the commission with his cronies. Just watch.

Didn’t the Board appoint half (or most) of the Commission to start with? If so, how would giving them full control solve the situation?

T.B.

From stories I have heard in the past; when a supervisor lets employees who are supposed to be on the taxpayer's clock park their truck and go work under the table for his landscaping company... this sort of thing should not come as a shock.

Money like water in hot pan, disappear if not watched closely.