Chico wants to ax City Clerk

Mayoral candidate Gery Chico said Thursday the city could save a lot of money by abolishing the offices of city clerk and city treasurer.

"City Clerk — what does the city clerk do? They give you city stickers," Chico told the Sun-Times editorial board Thursday. "You go to Jewel and Osco, you get your I-Pass from them."

It would be cheaper for the city to let people get their city stickers from retail stores, Chico said. Of course, one of Chico's rivals for mayor is City Clerk Miguel del Valle, whose appointment as clerk four years ago Chico applauded at the time.

"It's ridiculous: It's 100 persons [in the office]. It's a waste of money, waste of time," Chico said. "We used to use the city treasurer's office and the city clerk's office to balance the ticket. Now we need to use it to balance the budget. You have to do that."

Del Valle said he has used the office to put City Council meetings on the Internet, opening city government. The state Legislature created the office to be independent of the mayor's office to be a "point of access for the public" to learn about the actions of the City Council, he said. It would take a change in state law to abolish it, and it wouldn't save any money because the job of selling vehicle stickers, parking permits and keeping track of the City Council would have to be transferred, along with the employees to do it, to other city departments, he said.

For its $8 million budget, the office brings in $100 million in revenue, he said.

Jean Lachat