Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Feb. 25 primary election.
The race for Aurora Township clerk in the Democratic primary election is between Adam William Pauley and Angela Thomas, both of Aurora.
The primary election is set for Feb. 25. The winner in the Democratic primary race for clerk will move on to compete in the general election on April 1.
Pauley, 23, is the current president of the Kane County Regional Board of School Trustees.
When asked what the three most important roles of the township clerk are, Pauley spoke about the importance of keeping notes and records for the township, integrity in regards to bids submitted for projects, and the clerk’s role in local elections.
“All of these need to be conducted with transparency, good communication and fairness,” he said. “I think you can break it down to those three things. The clerk takes all the notes and keeps the records for the township. There is also the bid openings, and once every four years the clerk is the local election official.”
Minutes of meetings and records are kept by the clerk, Pauley noted.
“The transparency I’m talking about is in regards to the notes and making sure the public is kept up-to-date with the meetings and the Open Meetings Act,” he said. “The same thing with bid openings – the clerk is transparent with those and makes sure those communications happen smoothly. The same with being the local election official as well – acting transparently and fairly as a local election official.”
If elected, Pauley said goals would include “working with the board to record our meetings as well as being more active by going to all of the various community meetings that exist.”
“I’m talking about being at the meetings so we can let people know what our township does and educate them more,” he said.
Another goal, Pauley said, “would be to uphold the high standards that my predecessor Cassidy Alexander, the incumbent clerk, set while in office.”
Thomas, 53, said the role of the clerk includes “making sure residents have access to timely and accurate information.”
“You have to capture what happens at township meetings so that when residents go to read the minutes they are given a sense of what’s happening and making sure that information is out soon after meetings are held,” she said.
The job also includes “being a strategic partner with the supervisor, board of trustees and highway commissioner” as well as “looking for opportunities to be an ambassador for the township,” Thomas said.
“A lot of people don’t even know what township they are in, and the clerk can work with elected colleagues and be an ambassador for programs that the township offers as well as attend neighborhood meetings and other gatherings of residents,” Thomas said. “We also need to inform residents where their tax dollars are going. I believe that is the responsibility that the clerk has.”
If elected, Thomas said she would like to “get more information out about the property assessment process and where the tax dollars go once the property is assessed.”
She also wants to work on adding a “clerk’s corner on the township’s website” – a high-level summary of takeaways from township meetings.
“The average person doesn’t have time to read through everything,” she said. “Also, very early on, I want to work with the assessor about his role and finally to help residents understand the role of township government in relation to their city and county government.
“If you live in the city limits, you probably never think about the township, but you’re paying taxes and we need to make residents aware of what’s going on with the programs that are available and the good work the tax does,” she said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
