DuPage County clerk countersues county officials in ongoing bill saga

DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek is suing the DuPage County Board, Auditor Bill White and county board Chair Deborah Conroy in a move to assert her right to control how she runs the clerk’s office.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in response to a lawsuit filed in September by DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, who is seeking a judge’s order to compel Kaczmarek to comply with county regulations regarding the payment of bills.

In her countersuit, attorneys for Kaczmarek note that the Illinois attorney general’s office has issued “multiple opinions” regarding the clerk’s authority to manage internal operations of her office. They also highlight opinions from the state’s attorney general that the county board’s budgetary authority is limited to the appropriation of lump sums for three categories of expenses — equipment, material and services — and does not allow for line-item limitations.

In quoting one opinion from the Illinois attorney general’s office, attorneys for Kaczmarek note that the county board or auditor cannot stop payment on any bills from the clerk’s office if there is sufficient appropriated money left in her budget.

“This lawsuit repeats the same points of law my office has been raising for over two years,” Kaczmarek said in a press release. “Despite plain and unambiguous language backing us up, the state’s attorney chooses to ignore it.”

County officials have argued they are not seeking to approve or disapprove bill payments. However, they say they have the statutory authority to adopt accounting procedures, and the county clerk needs to follow those procedures and indicate which line item a bill should be paid from when the designated line item falls short.

On Monday, the state’s attorney’s office, which is representing the county in the lawsuit, declined to comment on Kaczmarek’s countersuit.

The county board and the clerk’s office have been tussling over bill payment procedures for more than a year. In August, the county auditor reported $142,823 in unpaid bills.

On Friday, both sides agreed to a court order outlining the payment of $325,911 in unpaid bills, many of them for election-related services. The order lists the vendors and indicates which line items in the clerk’s budget will be used to pay for the bills. The county board is expected to approve those line item transfers Tuesday.

Earlier this month, DuPage County Chief Judge Bonnie Wheaton appointed Kenneth Florey and Logan Sweeney, both private attorneys with the Chicago and Lisle firm of Robbins Schwartz, to represent Kaczmarek in the suit the county brought against her. The firm also retained Chicago attorney Ed Mullen to assist in the case.

The DuPage County state’s attorney’s office is representing the county in the lawsuit and, therefore, could not also represent Kaczmarek. The county must foot the bill for the private attorneys representing Kaczmarek.

The next scheduled court date is Nov. 7.