Newly elected and returning DeKalb County Board members were sworn into their roles officially Monday, and will begin their terms with an eye to 2022, when the districts will be remapped across the county culminating in a plan approved nearly a decade earlier.
The Board also appointed a new chairman, a Republican, for the first time in six years after Democrat Mark Pietrowski decided to step down in lieu for a run for Cortland mayor. Republican and former Vice Chairman John Frieders was appointed chairman, nominated by Republican and District 11 representative Roy Plote. No other members were nominated for chairman.
Democrat Suzanne Willis of District 10 was named Vice Chairman, with no one nominated to oppose her after Democrat Jim Luebke (District 9) put her name forward.
"We appreciate your leadership over the last few years," Frieders told Pietrowski. "And we look forward to moving forward with Ms. Willis as a team member on our leadership team. I also look forward to our new members and congratulate them on becoming part of our DeKalb County Board."
It was a virtual swearing-in ceremony over Zoom Monday evening, as DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder Doug Johnson swore in 13 board members, some new and some serving another term, to the board, some joined virtually by their families.
Newcomer and Republican Kathleen Lampkins was sworn in for District 1; Republican and incumbent Tim Hughes for District 2; Republican and newcomer Patrick Deutsch for District 3; incumbent and Republican Laurie Emmer for District 4; incumbent and Democrat Kiara Jones for District 5; incumbent and Democrat Craig Roman for District 6; incumbent and Democrat Terri Mann Lamb for District 7; Republican William Cummings who unseated incumbent and Democrat Christoper Porterfield to represent District 8; newcomer and Democrat Neill Mohammad for District 9; Democrat and newcomer Mary Cozad who unseated incumbent and Republican Jeff Whelan for District 10; Republican and incumbent Roy Plote for District 11; Republican Karen Cribben to fill the remaining two-year term for District 11's other seat; and Republican and incumbent Jerry Osland for District 12.
Reportioning of DeKalb County Board districts was approved unanimously by the bipartisan board in 2014, said Pietrowski. The process will take place in 2022.
During the virtual passing of the gavel ceremony, Pietrowski wished the next board well.
"You will have the awesome responsibility of being the first County Board in DeKalb County history to pass a fair redistricting map," Pietrowski said. "The process will now not take into consideration where current or future potential elected officials live when districts are drawn. They will be drawn by GIS mapping program without elected officials doing the drawing. There will be villages, towns and cities in the county together in a district or as few districts as possible based on their population and population requirements for each district."
Longtime member and exiting District 9 Democrat Paul Stoddard stepped down after a cumulative 13 years to retire after a second unsuccessful bid for Illinois State House District 70, losing to incumbent Republican Jeff Keicher.
Stoddard left the new board with some parting words of wisdom, saying his service was a "real privilege and learning experience."
"This board has really represented what politics should be about," Stoddard said. "It's not about the partisan games that we see being played downstate and in Washington. ... It's about people with different viewpoints, different backgrounds, different educational levels, different priorities coming together to try to find solutions for the county."
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Virtual swearing-in ceremony for newly elected DeKalb County Board members previews 2022 redistricting - DeKalb Daily Chronicle
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