County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant delivered her annual State of the County address, highlighting the growing Will County economy, efforts to improve services for residents, and the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Annual Budget.
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Posted inLocal, News, Politics, Will County
Lottery scheduled for candidates ballot placement in June Primary Election
Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry will conduct a lottery to determine which candidates will appear in the top ballot position in certain races for the June 28 Primary Election.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
New automated Vote-By-Mail system coming together for Clerk’s office
Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry earlier this week accepted the first major piece of equipment to automate the Vote By Mail program in Will County. The high-speed, state-of-the-art EvoluJet Printer from BlueCrest has the capability of printing 2,200 ballots per hour. Specialists from BlueCrest and the manufacturer, Kyocera, were on hand to assemble the EvoluJet’s components and make the necessary adjustments to begin printing test ballots on location at the Will County Clerk’s Office. The EvoluJet Printer will be joined by two other major pieces of equipment: The high-speed Relia-Vote MSE Inserter will automate the assembly of Vote By Mail packets, and the Relia-Vote Vantage Sorter will streamline the sorting of Vote By Mail packets for outbound mailing and for organizing return ballots. These three machines will improve efficiency and accuracy across the entire Vote By Mail program. They also will save Will County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each election compared to the cost of assembling and processing Vote By Mail Ballots manually. Staley Ferry announced back in August that the Will County Board had unanimously approved $1.9 million in funding to purchase equipment to automate her office’s growing Vote By Mail program.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
First major piece of equipment for vote by mail counting system arrives in Will County
Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry announce recently that the Will County Board has unanimously approved $1.9 million in funding to purchase equipment to automate her office’s growing Vote By Mail program.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
County leaders spotlight priorities in 2022 annual budget
County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant joined County Board leadership in highlighting accomplishments in the Fiscal Year 2022 annual budget, which, they said, invests in key priorities while maintaining balanced spending. The $793 million package, which was passed unanimously today by the County Board, increases funding for public safety agencies, the Children’s Advocacy Center, and the Will-Ride transportation program.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Will County, still no decision on doling out second round of stimulus
Many have inquired about how to get a piece of the $134 million Will County received earlier this year from the federal American Rescue Plan. County officials, however, have yet to dole out any of that second round of COVID relief funding and, as they did with the CARES Act funding, they plan to once again hire the same consultant to assist in the process of distributing funds.
“Although we have not made an official determination on how the funds will be disbursed, we have received quite a few requests from our Will County residents, businesses, municipalities, local governments, non-profits, county board members, department heads and other customers,” said Will County Board member Ken Harris (D-Bolingbrook). Harris is chairman of the county board’s Finance Committee.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Democrats, Republicans at odds over new district map
They argued over it and with little, if any, agreement across the aisle the Will County board voted along straight party lines in favor of a new 11-district map. The board voted 14-12 on the new 11-district map for 2022 that will result in two county board members per district and four less than there are now with the current 13-district map. Some Republicans on the board accused Democrats with “gerrymandering,” to get the map the way they wanted, which brought vehement disagreement from Democrats. Board member Jacqueline Traynere (D-Bolingbrook) said she got tired of hearing the “constant barrage of accusing us of gerrymandering. “This is about changes in our population,” Traynere said in support of the new map.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Bertino-Tarrant recommends 11-District Board
At the September county board meeting, Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant presented her proposed redistricting plan for 11 two-member districts, which reduces the size of the Will County Board by four members.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Will County leads national panel on pandemic rental assistance
Will County Board Member Denise Winfrey (Joliet) will moderate a panel on Friday that will examine best practices for counties across the United States that are administering Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) for individuals who face housing insecurity because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The panel is hosted by the National Association of Counties (NACo) of which Winfrey is the First Vice President.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Voter access – a priority for Will County
While Senate Democrats edged closer to an agreement this week on new voting rights legislation, 18 states have enacted 30 laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
