Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman cast the tie-breaking vote to approve an ordinance that will increase the number of members on three village commissions as a way to bolster public involvement in local government.
Kauffman’s vote was needed to approve the measure because the Village Board voted 3-3 on the proposed ordinance, which came about following discussion of a survey in which some community members expressed concerns about the level of resident involvement in decision-making in Oswego.
Village staff members in January, at the request of Kauffman, presented a report on the village’s six commissions to trustees meeting as a committee of the whole.
Based on their input, village staff members at the Feb. 20 Village Board meeting presented a proposed ordinance that would increase membership from seven to nine members on the Planning and Zoning Commission, Economic Development Commission and the Cultural Arts Commission.
Voting in favor of the proposed ordinance were Trustees Kit Kuhrt, Karin McCarthy-Lange and Andrew Torres. Voting the other way were Trustees Karen Novy, Jennifer Jones Sinnott and Tom Guist.
“We have a disagreement on what the survey said,” Guist said. “I look at this as quality over quantity. On some level, we are making it more likely that commissioners don’t feel a need to be there.”
Kauffman pointed to the recent survey results concerning public involvement in local decision-making. Respondents gave the village a 28% “satisfied” rating on the issue in the 2023 survey, compared to 35.7 % “satisfied” in 2018.
He said he thought the community expressed in the survey that there aren’t enough ways to get involved in the decision-making process in the village.
Novy was in support of some level of increased membership on the commissions.
“I feel growing our Cultural Arts Commission and Economic Development Commission is a great idea because more ideas come from more people working together,” she said.
However, she said, “I don’t really think we need to grow the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
Kauffman said increasing membership on the three advisory boards makes sense.
“There are a lot of people who want to get involved and there are a lot of people who want to be part of the community and decision-making apparatus,” he said. “I think it’s a mistake to tell them no.”
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
