According to a new survey done released by the Quad Cities Chambers on Monday, Rock Island County voters are mostly in favor of reform in the Rock Island County Board.
The poll surveyed 400 Rock Island County voters. Out of the voters, 20.8 percent were Republican, 33 percent were Democrat, 34.3 percent were independent, and 12 percent were from another political party. These were their findings:
- 77.5% of voters are in favor of reducing the size of the Rock Island County Board, from 25 members to 15 members.
- 79.3% of voters are in favor of creating a way for the Rock Island County Board to remove a Board Chair.
- 53% of voters are in favor of hiring a full-time, Professional Administrator.
- 82.8% of voters are in favor of creating penalties for Board Members who violate county policies.
- 73.5% of voters are in favor of taking immediate action on county government proposals that need immediate attention.
This is the first time the Quad Cities Chamber has publicly shown support for reform in the Rock Island County Board.
"As a business organization, we have an important stake in this community having an environment that's friendly for businesses and friendly for families that want to live here and work for our businesses," said Tara Barney, President of the Quad Cities Chambers.
"It's fair to say that over the past few months there's been a lot of challenges that have come up. The business of running government is more complicated than it used to be," Barney said. "We want to make sure that [Rock Island County] is an environment that people think of having responsive and overlooking government and I think these proposals offer that path."
Rock Island County board member, Drue Mielke, said he hopes to call a special meeting to go over the reform changes proposed by the Chamber survey.