The Kane County Board voted Tuesday to approve the appointment of Alex Arroyo of Aurora to fill the vacant District 7 seat on the board. The seat was left open after Monica Silva’s successful bid for Kane County coroner in the fall election. With her official resignation from the board on Nov. 30, 2024, the board had until the end of January to appoint her successor, according to state statute. A subcommittee, which included board members Michelle Gumz of the 8th District and Myrna Molina of the 1st District, met on Jan. 6 and Jan. 10 to select a candidate for the vacant seat. According to the application, the seat had to be filled by a member of the Democratic Party, since the departing Silva was a Democrat, and they must have lived in Kane County for at least a year and reside in District 7. After interviewing several candidates, Arroyo was put forth as the subcommittee’s recommended pick. Arroyo has served as vice president of the East Aurora School District Board of Education for the past nine years. He’s also a former flight attendant and volunteers with the Kane County Democrats, Aurora Township Democrats and organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Habitat for Humanity, according to his resume. District 7 includes a portion of the northeast side of Aurora. Its population was 21,583 as of 2020 and is majority Hispanic, according to census data provided by Kane County. Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog was unable to attend, so Vice Chair Bill Roth presided over Tuesday’s meeting. The vote to approve Arroyo saw 16 votes in support and four votes against. Several of the votes against Arroyo stemmed from concerns with the appointment process itself. “Are we just supposed to be rubberstamping this one as well?,” District 21 board member Clifford Surges asked about the vote on Tuesday, expressing concern with the level of involvement members of the board not on the subcommittee had in the selection process. “If you look at the agenda, yes, we’re just approving this and it’s done.” According to state statute, a vacant seat on a county board is filled by the elected county board speaker or county board chair, “with the advice and consent of the county board.” In this case, Pierog put together a subcommittee to make the selection, and had the board vote for or against the candidate. A few board members said they felt they should’ve been provided more information about Arroyo and the other candidates for the District 7 seat. “No resume, no information on the person, I’ve never met the person, I don’t know anything about him,” Kane County Board member Gary Daugherty of the 9th District said. “I don’t think my colleagues on the selection committee are idiots, but how can I give advice and consent if I know nothing?” Other board members defended the process. Molina, a member of the selection committee, said there were sufficient opportunities for the board to learn about Arroyo before voting on his appointment. “This was on the agenda,” Molina said. “It was posted on Friday at 4 o’clock….Past practice has been that the chair chooses the person they want and the committee then votes up or down. I’ve never heard of anybody being voted against as someone who’s sat on the board for 16 years.” But while the appointment followed the process outlined by state statute, a few board members said they want greater transparency in the future. “We need to inform every single person about who the candidates are and walk them through the process,” said District 14 board member Jon Gripe. “I’m not voting because I think the committee structure’s right. I’m not voting because I think the process didn’t work the way it should. I’m voting on a person.” Arroyo addressed the concerns after he was sworn-in on Tuesday, and hopes the board can work together to find solutions. “I understand it was a confusing process,” Arroyo said. “I was confused by the process. We all wear different hats, we’re all provincial, we all have different districts, we have different wants and needs. But in the end, put aside our disagreements. Talk to each other.” [email protected]