Shared Services?

I wrote this back on February 17, 2013.  

Although the Forest Preserve documents are now being stored at the Forest Preserve.  The DuPage County employee issues still remain.  I am told that the DuPage County Board has no authority in this matter because the employees fall under the authority of the DuPage County Clerk. I was also that when Mr. King is no longer Clerk this practice will stop.....Stay tuned....


It has been brought to my attention that a DuPage County Employee is spending time approximately 12 hours a month on DuPage Forest Preserve matters and using DuPage County resources to do this work.  There is no intergovernmental agreement.  This employee is not receiving any compensation from the forest preserve.

Although this may seem minor 12 hours per month equals 144 hours per year.  That is almost one month of county employee time and resources spent on matters not related to the county.

I would recommend that by April 1st these duties are turned over to the forest preserve, where they belong.

It has also come to my attention that DuPage County is storing DuPage Forest Preserve Documents.  There is no intergovernmental agreement or rental agreement.  DuPage County is not collecting rent for the storage of these documents.  Who is ultimately responsible for the documents?

If for some reason these documents can not be stored at the forest preserve I believe that it would be in the best interest of DuPage County to complete an intergovernmental agreement which outlines responsibilities for the oversight of the documents and rent for storage.

I find the whole situation troubling and I am hoping that these recommendations are implemented."

To claim that the situation between the DuPage Forest Preserve and DuPage County is a "Shared Service" is a stretch.  What is a Shared Service?  A Shared Service should be awin/win situation. It should be equitable for all rather than one entity gaining at the expense of others.  When a Shared Service is established it is important to distinguish responsibilities and share all associated costs. Shared Services should be an Agreement and as such requires an Intergovernmental Agreement.  Examples of Shared Services would be  purchasing in bulk, combined fuel purchases or whenfire and police protection between neighboring villages is a shared.  

The fact that there are no intergovernmental agreements and no sharing of costs the situation is clearly not shared. 

If interested you can view the complete debate starting at 57:40

View Video


Today this is still a problem as Jean Kaczmarek writes below.

The above photo was taken on the morning of June 3, 2014 at the DuPage Forest Preserve Board meeting.

The man sitting in the middle isn't the name the desk plate identifies. That's because DuPage County Clerk Gary King was at the DuPage County Board meeting scheduled during the same time. The man in the photo is Paul Hinds, a full-time government employee and my opponent for the 2014 DuPage County Clerk race.

Hinds shouldn't be sitting there.  Here's why:

He is an employee of DuPage County, which is a separate government entity of the DuPage Forest Preserve. It's a bit confusing, I admit. The Forest Preserve broke away from the County in 2002. Some traditions are hard to let go, so the Forest Preserve Board decided to keep King on in the ceremonial position of Board secretary.

You can read the full story here.