Kane District 20 challenger promises perfect attendance

A challenger in the Kane County Board's District 20 Democratic primary argues she'll do a better job than the incumbent because she'll be at every meeting.

Penny Wegman is running against incumbent Cristina Castro, both of Elgin, hoping for her own chance to direct county government. Jose Sifuentes, another challenger, has not responded could not be reached for comment in this article.

Wegman said Castro's attendance record, in which she was present for about 75 percent of meetings in her first term, is not good enough.

“You can't get anything done if you're not there,” Wegman said. “It doesn't matter what great amazing ideas you have if you don't go to the meetings.”

Castro works in the marketing department at Elgin Community College and said sometimes work demands keep her from the board meetings.

“That doesn't mean I don't keep involved or follow what's going on,” Castro said. “I follow up with board members and staff.” Castro said she never missed an important vote and has treated the position as a full-time job since she was elected in 2008. If re-elected, Castro plans to encourage efficiency in government and trim the budget as well as step up economic development work to bring more businesses into the county to help diversify the revenue base. She said lower impact fees are one way to bring businesses in.

“I think we are losing businesses to other counties because our impact fees are too high,” Castro said.

Wegman's priorities are on doing more with less money and being open about the county's finances.

Wegman, who works as a student loan coordinator for Career Education Corp., is a trustee on the Gail Borden Public Library board and served as president of the Kane County Regional school board. She also is a member of the Elgin Image Advisory Commission. She said Elgin is an amazing community with plenty of potential that has been untapped by the current county board.

“It's time for us to step up and get involved,” Wegman said. “That's what I really want to do.”

Castro serves as a board member for Elgin's Black History Family Festival and is a past member of the Elgin Zoning and Subdivision Hearing Board, Elgin Hispanic Network board and Centre Advisory Board.

She said her work is not done and District 20 residents should give her a chance to keep at it in a second term.

District 20 includes portions of Elgin's east side.