Kane Co. Board District 19 race a solo act

Two years ago, Republican Kurt Kojzarek and Democrat Hidayat Khan had one debate that involved both Kane County Board candidates advocating for transparent government. In the 2014 rematch for the District 19 seat, there has been no debate as Kojzarek is the only candidate in the race with a voice so far.

Khan has not responded to multiple requests for interviews and candidate questionnaire information during either his uncontested primary or the current general election.

Kojzarek said during an endorsement session that he's seeking re-election to keep the county on a path of financial stability and cooperative government. He renewed his commitment to keep the county's portion of the property tax levy flat "as long as we can." And he said he will continue to oppose the county's use of impact fees because he sees them as an obstacle to business expansion and recruitment.

Kojzarek is currently chairman of the county board's Energy and Environmental Committee. Its main task now is bidding out electrical services for unincorporated residents in hopes of securing them a lower rate. Kojzarek said he expects to see the results of that effort before the end of the year but is tempering expectations.

"I've been pretty open all along that I didn't want to set expectations that I was going to reduce everyone's electricity rate by 50 percent," he said. "If we can save them 5 percent, 2 percent, anything we can reduce we're all for."

Kojzarek said the county board is operating in a cooperative manner for the most part. However, he'd like to see relations among the board, Chairman Chris Lauzen and Coroner Rob Russell improve.

"The constant bickering is not working, and this is what people are associating Kane County with," Kojzarek said. "I would remind (Lauzen and Russell) that they have a joint constituency. They come from different sides of the Republican Party, but in the end, don't get sucked into any kind of personal grudge match. These problems are not as difficult as they've become if you just take the personalities out of it."

Kojzarek said one solution may involve putting the responsibility for maintaining any building a county agency operates in under the umbrella of county's facilities management team, rather than leaving it to the individual elected officials.

Finally, Kojzarek supports renovation of the Settler's Hill golf course, but he thinks the jury is still out of the viability of adding a cross country course to the landfill campus.

"I think the facility has merit, but I don't necessarily believe the financial data provided so far about how much money we're going to make," he said.

The most recent estimate envisioned more than a dozen large competitions at the site netting parking revenue of more than $225,000 a year.

"I think those numbers might be unrealistic," Kojzarek said. "All the different track and field meets, there's nothing saying we actually are going to get those. It's a pipe dream that we're going to get every single one of them."