Six Elgin city council hopefuls air views
Six hopefuls for a 2-year Elgin City Council seat squared off Wednesday night with plenty of substance and no major fireworks before more than 100 people in a forum organized by the Association For Legal Americans, or AFLA.
In a wide-ranging forum, Al Fernandez, Emi Morales, Michael Robins, Brenda Rodgers, Charlene Sligting and Mike Warren touched on their positions ranging from downtown development and developer incentives to overcrowding and term limits.
The most semi-contentious moment of the forum came when AFLA co-founder and moderator David White asked each member on the panel if they would accept support or a public endorsement from AFLA.
Warren said he would be happy to accept support from every voter in the room; the remaining candidates answered yes.
All candidates agreed that overcrowding - instances with multiple families living in a single-family home - was an issue for the city.
Rodgers and Morales said part of the cause could be because of the poor economy; Sligting said she would support a change to the city's laws that allow one person per 100 square feet of living space. All candidates said the city needed to get tougher on landlords and work more with the code enforcement department.
A Feb. 24 primary will narrow the field to four candidates leading up to the April 7 election. The seat was vacated last year when Mike Powers resigned after he voted on a stadium plan for the Chicago Bandits, a professional softball team for which he did some consulting work.
Each candidate assured audience members that he or she would abstain from voting if there was a conflict of interest, ethical issue.
When asked about whether they would accept campaign contributions from unions that represent city workers, Robins and Fernandez answered a flat-out no, Warren said he wants all residents to be active and interested in the race, and the remaining candidates said yes.
The forum was the first of three planned before the primary. Other forums are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4, American Legion Hall, 820 N. Liberty St. by the Elgin Jaycees; 7 p.m. Feb. 5, First Presbyterian Church, 240 Standish St., by the Near West Neighbors Association; and 2 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., by the League of Women Voters.