Elgin Courier-News
June 10, 2005
By Matthew DeFour
STAFF WRITER
A well-oiled machine is ineffective if the tiniest cog doesn't work, which is why 15 communities in Kane, Kendall
and DeKalb counties have formed a new group to give their COG more clout.
The Metro West Council of Government (COG) is a new intergovernmental organization that will facilitate regional
planning and represent its members on the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, a Chicago-area consortium representing 272
municipalities and 8 million people.
Other counties, including Will, McHenry and DuPage, have had their own COGs for years. The DuPage Mayors and Managers
Conference formed in 1962 and now has 35 members, including Aurora.
The Metro West COG's charter members include Batavia, East Dundee, Elburn, Elgin, Geneva, Montgomery, North Aurora,
Oswego, Sleepy Hollow, St. Charles, South Elgin, Sugar Grove, Wayne, West Chicago and West Dundee.
Representatives to the Metro West COG include mayors and administrators from the member municipalities.
"We have more of an impact as a larger group," said Oswego Village President Craig Weber. "We have
common interests and common needs. This is just a way to develop that camaraderie and that powerful group mentality."
The organization replaces the DuKane Valley Mayors and Administrators, a subsidiary of the DuKane Valley Council,
which also includes representatives from park districts, utility companies and county government.
Unlike the old group, which formed in 1997 and was one of 10 charter members on Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's Metropolitan
Mayors Caucus, the Metro West COG will be able to take positions on certain issues that go before the caucus, according
to Montgomery Village Administrator Anne Marie Gaura.
For example, when ComEd proposed running power lines along Randall Road in 2003, the DuKane Valley Mayors and Administrators
could not take a position on the issue, because they also represented the DuKane Valley Council, of which ComEd
is a member.
"There's always legislation pending in Springfield that deals with particular utilities or industries ...
that we could never take a position and lobby our legislators on," said Gaura, who has led the effort to form
the COG. "We have been at a disadvantage out here because we haven't had a COG, but that's changing."
Through the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the COG will be able to lobby Springfield on issues such as state-shared
revenue, which has been cut back in recent years.
"If our revenue decreases from the state, that decreases the amount of services we can provide for our residents,"
Gaura said.
Other regional issues, such as the Prairie Parkway project, will be easier to coordinate at the group's monthly
meetings.
Charter members are in the process of approving membership through their individual governments, but the COG already
has drafted its bylaws and is planning to elect officers later this month.
Membership dues cost 35 cents per capita, with a $3,500 minimum and $30,000 maximum for towns larger than 5,000.
Smaller towns will pay a flat rate of $1,500.
The COG dues are significantly higher than dues for the DuKane Valley Mayors and Administrators. Montgomery paid
$612 per year before, and will now pay $3,715 per year. But Gaura said the value of the new organization is going
to be more significant for the community.
"By creating this organization we're going to be creating a more powerful lobbying effort," she said.
"The communities in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties are going to have a stronger voice in Springfield because
of Metro West."
6/10/05