West Chicago candidates debate communications

All four candidates for contested seats on the West Chicago City Council say poor communication with residents is a concern they will address if elected, and each has suggestions for what should be done to improve it.

West Chicago voters will elect aldermen from all seven wards in the April 7 election, but only two of those wards feature contested races.

In Ward 4, recently appointed Melissa Birch faces challenger Wayne Woodward. In Ward 7, newcomers Noreen Ligino-Kubinski and Nicholas Dzierzanowski are squaring off to replace Matt Fuesting.

The issue is especially concerning for Dzierzanowski, who served on the council from 2003 to 2013 and ran for mayor in 2013.

Dzierzanowski said it would be a priority for him to get the city's print newsletter reinstated. He estimates that getting rid of it a few years ago saved the city about $25,000, which he believes is "not a lot of money in the big scheme of things."

"People don't really know what's going on within the city," he said, adding that he feels it is especially true in Ward 7, which is not contiguous to downtown.

As an alderman, Dzierzanowski said he made personal efforts to improve communications by launching an email newsletter called "Notes From Nick." He says it was regularly sent out to about 600 people and helped him gauge, at times, which way to vote on an issue.

For example, when the city was considering a change in garbage service, Dzierzanowski sent a survey asking his neighbors what they thought.

"I had over 200 people send me a response for what they would personally do if they were in my position to vote," he said.

While on the council, Dzierzanowski said he was "very active" in the community, regularly going door to door to talk to people and trying to find solutions to problems.

"If it was a bigger issue, I'd ask to come to your house and sit at your kitchen table and figure it out," he said. "When I left that night, you might not have agreed with me, but at least I gained respect with the person."

Dzierzanowki's opponent, Ligino-Kubinski, said she would also like to see the print newsletter distributed again.

"Yes, technology is great ... but for the seniors in the area and those that like to get their mail and read their mail, I'd like to bring it back," she said.

All the candidates mentioned they were also concerned about the lack of communication regarding the city's backlogged water bills, and Ligino-Kubinski said she would do her "due diligence" to find out "exactly what is going on internally."

She believes the last time she got a letter of communications from the city about the problems with the billing system and how it would be slowed down was last March.

"It's been a long time," she said, adding that to fix the problem it will require "working together with everyone, finding out what happened."

Birch, who was appointed to the Ward 4 seat in December, said she would also like to see the newsletter return.

"Even as a younger person who does a lot online ... I do miss getting that newsletter in the mail. The online version is nice, however, there are many residents in our community that would prefer the mailed copy, and that was a way to put the news directly in their hands."

Birch said she has heard many residents complain about the city's late water bills at monthly coffee with the council meetings and feels the city needs to "overcommunicate" the issue.

"I think I may have received one letter regarding this, but nothing recently," she said. "It has been a very hot issue in West Chicago."

Her challenger, Wayne Woodward, said he is very frustrated with the city's tight-lipped approach to what he says was "the firing" of the police chief in October.

"You can't even get anybody to admit that, much less why and what's going on to replace him," he said. "There's no communications at all."

Woodward said he holds nothing against Birch, but he also wasn't happy with the lack of information about the open Ward 4 seat after Al Murphy left to take a spot on the DuPage County Forest Preserve Commission.

The lack of information regarding backlogged water bills is also frustrating to Woodward. He said the problem was there when he ran for mayor in 2013, but he wasn't as aware of it.

"I didn't think it would carry on this long," he said. "I think it's ridiculous."

Woodward, who also is a former councilman, said he hopes if he gets back on the city council he will find out what's going on.

"It's the biggest issue that people have been contacting me about," he said.