By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – A proposal making major changes how McLean County residents are represented on the county board won the backing of a board committee Thursday night.
The board’s rules subcommittee voted 5-2 supporting a McLean County Farm Bureau-backed plan cutting in half the number of board districts from 10 to 5.
The committee’s only Democrat, Laurie Wollrab, joined Republican Josh Barnett in supporting the current system in which voters choose two representatives in each of the ten districts.
Under the new plan, the board would still have 20 members, but voters would choose four representatives in each district instead of two.
Democrats have called for the issue to be debated before the full county board at a special meeting next Tuesday.
The county is in the middle of a redistricting process that happens every 10 years, but this year, final census figures are late in coming because of the pandemic, and the debate among political leaders shows a division between urban and rural interests.
Barnett, a Republican representing parts of Bloomington’s east side, said the current system has worked well for the past 40 years.
“That is a long time that we have had in place our current structure, and changing to five districts with four members per district is a radical change,” Barnett said.
“I have yet to hear any kind of detailed examples why what we have right now does not work,” Barnett also said.
Committee Chair Jim Soeldner, representing a rural district, believes the public would see better representation under the new plan.
“Maybe we haven’t had a lot of issues that have divided rural and city, but we have had some, and there’s no guarantee there won’t be more in the future,” Soeldner said.
GOP committee member Catherine Metsker said it would be a good thing for board members to learn more about rural and urban interests.
“I believe that we can certainly have a solid 20 board members and still expand our understanding as a community and not be divided,” said Metsker, who represents mainly rural constituents.
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