Elgin City Council candidates talk diversity, minimum wage

The seven candidates running for Elgin City Council have different views on raising the minimum wage in Cook County and fostering diversity among city employees.

Incumbents John Prigge, Carol Rauschenberger, Terry Gavin and Rich Dunne, along with former Councilwoman Brenda Rodgers, Planning and Zoning Commissioner Corey Dixon and newcomer Brandon Yaniz, are vying for four open seats in the April 4 election.

Minimum wage

Cook County approved increasing the hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $10 effective July 1, 2017, and to $13 by 2020. Home rule communities like Elgin - which is about 30 percent in Cook County and the rest in Kane County - can opt out.

Dixon was the only candidate who said he supports raising the minimum wage last week during an election forum organized by the League of Women Voters of the Elgin Area.

The move would increase personal income levels but wouldn't be easy to implement because it would hurt businesses, Dixon said.

The other six candidates said the state, not the city, should set the minimum wage.

If Elgin had a higher minimum wage, nearby communities in Kane County would benefit by becoming more attractive to business owners, Dunne said.

If that happens, there will be fewer jobs and higher unemployment in Elgin, Gavin agreed.

People who support higher minimum wages "assume they will keep their jobs," Prigge said.

Larger cities like Seattle and San Francisco have taken the lead in approving minimum wage raises, Rauschenberger said, but "I don't think Elgin is the right place or the right size to do that."

Raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses, and Elgin has too many empty storefronts already, Yaniz said. "We would see an exodus of all our small businesses fleeing the city as quickly as they could," he said.

"I don't want our community to be fourth or fifth when companies are looking to relocate," Rodgers said. "I want us to be first."

Diversity

Diversity is among Elgin's strategic goals. The city employed a $30,000-per-year diversity consultant for four years; Prigge and Gavin voted "no" to the contract.

The city needs to continue to work on increasing diversity among its ranks "and hire people that reflect people in our community," Rauschenberger said, adding the police department has been proactive in this area.

Yaniz disagreed, saying people should be hired on the basis of merit alone. "With city hiring, I believe in hiring the best," he said after the forum. "I think it's something that transcends race and cultural background."

The city needs to hire "the best people," Prigge said, but a candidate who adds diversity should win out if there are two equal resumes on the table, he said.

"My position has always been to hire the best people, regardless of how they look," Gavin said, adding he supports diversity as a goal.

Dunne said the city always should look for the best candidates and should cast a wider net in its search. "The leadership in the city is not as diverse as the city itself, and that is something we should work on," he said.

Rodgers said she wants "to embrace the diversity we have."

The city says it wants to foster diversity, Dixon said, but not much has happened concretely. "The $30,000 has been (spent) for the consultant, but we haven't used any of the ideas," he said.