Petitions from an unknown source were filed in the DuPage County Circuit Court on Jan. 3, 2017 and circulated in Lisle, Woodridge and Warrenville. The petitions were created to ask the judge to require that a referendum question be included on the April 4 ballot, asking voters in each of the three towns whether they believed they should be annexed into Naperville. The petitioners also asked for a binding referendum question to be put on the Naperville ballot that would indicate whether Naperville citizens accepted the other three communities.

Mayor Steve Chirico of Naperville is aware that the petition is not a citizen initiative as the circulators appear to be from the Chicago area, though they remain unnamed.

“In my view, this was not a serious effort to make a positive impact on any of the communities,” Chirico said. “I believe it was a political stunt being done to draw attention to one’s personal cause or a group’s personal cause or interest.”

Signatures from either a minimum of 10 percent of the people who voted in the last general municipal election or 250 people – whichever is lower – are required for the annexation referendum question to make the ballot.

Judge Bonnie M. Wheaton of the DuPage County Circuit Court has received objections from residents of each of three towns with reasons stating the invalidity of a number signatures on the petitions. Naperville, on the other hand, does not have standing as there have not been any Naperville residents who have filed a formal objection to court.

Still, Chirico emphasizes the importance of the proposal to city officials.

“If there are community activists who are not satisfied with the status quo and are forming a group to bring this forward, that’s what referendums are for,” Chirico said. “When groups of citizens or voters want to get their voice heard, we support that very much. But this is people outside of our community trying to stir trouble within our community.”

Regarding the logical backing behind the proposal, Chirico remains skeptical.

“There is not any campaign to talk about why such an idea would be beneficial to the communities or no effort made to have any dialogue with any of the residents,” Chirico said. “And none of the circulators are from the area.”

Senior Bethany Krupicka had seen the headlines about the petition, but was unsure of its plausibility.

“I think if it happens, Naperville would benefit economically to some extent,” Krupicka said. “But I think in the long run it would be the other towns who would lose a lot of income by turning everything over to Naperville, and I don’t think it would benefit Naperville enough to warrant the losses of the other towns.”

Also aware of the petition, junior Peter Murphy did not believe the petition was a serious endeavor.

“I don’t think it would really be beneficial,” Murphy said. “It would increase tax revenue for Naperville but would also be a lot more land to maintain. Naperville is a nice city and I’m sure the other three are as well. The smartest movie would be for them to stay separate in my opinion.”

According to local news outlets, the mayors of Lisle, Woodridge and Warrenville share Chirico’s sentiment.

“We are all quite content being who we are,” Mayor David Brummel of Warrenville said. “Naperville is happy being Naperville and Warrenville is happy being Warrenville. So I don’t think this was a serious attempt at resolving some sort of an issue or bringing forward some sort of a proposition, because if it was, the people would have owned it, put their name on it and put forward the idea.”

On Jan. 23, a motion to dismiss the petition was filed and the hearing date was set for Jan. 26. However, Judge Paul M. Cunningham delayed the decision and set another hearing for Feb. 8, which is two weeks after the ballot should be finalized.