The landscape of Will County's solid waste planning has encountered some political turbulence with the recent veto of a consultant hiring. County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant put a stop to a County Board resolution that would have brought on Robert Schillerstrom as a consultant to the Landfill Committee. As reported by The Chicago Tribune, Bertino-Tarrant's veto message emphasized that the county "already has two consultants and full-time staff" addressing these needs, rendering the additional hire redundant.
Party lines appear to have been drawn with the initial June 4 vote on the contract passing 12-6 in Schillerstrom's favor, mainly with Republican support. Advocating for the vetoed resolution, County Board Chair Judy Ogalla, a Republican, suggested the hiring was critical for the Landfill Committee, which lacks landfill operation expertise. Ogalla plans to prompt the board to override the veto, which would require 14 votes. Bertino-Tarrant, in opposition, has denounced the decision as an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer funds and voiced "faith in our staff" and current consultants.
The Herald-News highlighted the partisanship that has colored this debate, noting some Democratic support for the Republican-backed consultancy contract. With members of the Landfill Committee reportedly struggling to acquire information from existing staff, Schillerstrom, who possesses a history of involvement with the DuPage County Board's landfills and leadership with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, was seen as an appropriately experienced consultant with his expertise being subjected to questioning by the board's Democrats.
Michael Theodore, a spokesman for the county executive's office, conveyed to The Herald-News that longtime advisors Geo-Logic and Associates and attorney Charles Helsten have served Will County's landfill concerns for more than three decades. Amid these discussions stands the impending closure of the Prairie View Landfill in Wilmington by 2034, a pressing deadline that intensifies the need for sound decisions on solid waste planning – an issue, along with others, that the veto from Bertino-Tarrant seeks to balance, stressing the abundance of existing resources and avoiding the potential to duplicate efforts.
