DuPage County needs to revamp hiring practices for summer positions

People looking for work, temporary or full time, shouldn't look at DuPage County for available summer positions. Those were filled without any advertising. In fact, many of those positions went to the children of county employees. So much for the clarity of government.

During a Tuesday county finance committee meeting, County Commissioner Debra Olsen revealed that at least 20 of the nearly 200 summer jobs the county offers were filled by relatives of current county employees. Olsen sad it wasn't fair qualified candidates didn't have the opportunity to apply for the positions.

Not only were the positions filled without advertising, some of the seasonal hires were allowed to begin working before the hires were approved by the county board.

DuPage County commissioners need to ensure hiring practices are fair and open to everyone. Kudos to Commissioner Olsen for revealing the nepotism running through the county.

DuPage Board rightly rejects imposing limits on churches

The DuPage County Board of Commissioners rightly rejected a decision that would impose strict limitations on where churches can build. According to the Daily Herald, board members said they initially wanted to control church construction and growth in residential areas. But, they said the proposed zoning changes went beyond what the commission intended when the issue of controlling church construction was first broached. The board said they wanted to control the growth of churches in residential areas after they received petitions to turn several single-family homes into a religious facility.

The proposal would have required new churches to build on at least five acres, which opponents complained would limit churches to only parcels along highways or industrial parks. But that would also limit new church construction and expansion of existing churches. Property in DuPage County is at a premium, especially in the eastern portions of the county. New churches would have to rent empty theaters or seek empty strip mall spaces.

Considering DuPage County already has ordinances in place to prevent the construction of religious sites or places of assembly if the site is deemed to have traffic, parking or other site-specific problems. But it is wise to block the turning of single-family homes into places of worship and perhaps a property tax dodge. But penalizing church construction is not the right answer to addressing this problem.