Jim Mitchell wants one last term on Kane County Board

Jim Mitchell says he's never seen a Kane County Board so divided in his 19 years of service. Yet he wants to return for one last term in District 9 to help carry the board through tumultuous budget times, even though the North Aurora resident hasn't been a stranger to some of the county's more controversial actions.

"This will be my last term if I win," Mitchell pledged in a recent Daily Herald endorsement interview. "I really wasn't sure I was going to run again. The thing that probably swayed me the most is we have a young board with a lot of new people. A lot of those people have come and asked for my help because of my experience. When we talk about something, I can tell them how we got there, what we tried before, what worked and what we may want to try again. I think that's important to have."

With board member Robert McConnaughay not running, Mitchell will be the most senior member of the board if re-elected. But that would also mean working with board members he believes are not always acting in the best interest of taxpayers. Mitchell would not single out anyone, but did pinpoint campaign contributions and personal gain as the source of some the recent unrest.

"The board will not change until 14 members of the board want to do something a certain way and will stand up and say so," Mitchell said. "And until the board committees live up to what I think is their obligation, I don't think you'll see a lot of change. But what bothers me the most is when I look at the money folks are getting from those who are doing business with the county or are hired by the county. I just think that's wrong. For others to do that, it bothers me. Then when I see what it's costing us for insurance, you've got board members that are making closer to $50,000 with all that figured in. That isn't right either. We should all be there to do what's best for taxpayers. With some people, I don't believe that's their focus."

Mitchell said that focus is more key than ever as the county heads into a budget year that might be more difficult than the budget battles just concluded.

"I can tell you that the county board, despite what anybody tells you, doesn't know what's in the budget they pass specifically," Mitchell said. "The really sad part is that I don't know that, with this year's budget, the revenue is going to be sufficient to support (the expenses). We may be looking at even more cuts. And it's even more important that you have a system to do that."

Mitchell is a fan of a budgeting system that clearly lays out the mandated functions of government versus programs that are just things the county would like to do and cutting from there. Budget cuts always come with some controversy, but Mitchell is familiar with that from his role as chairman of the committee who oversaw the construction of the new jail. The jail faced a bit of a public relations problem when it opened and did not have enough beds for the inmates the county already had.

"When you talk about the jail being too small, it's too small if you don't manage your criminal justice system," Mitchell said. "And we have since (managed the criminal justice system)."

Mitchell pointed to several steps taken to make sure only inmates who truly need to stay behind bars are in the jail as well as a better system of tracking inmates.

"It used to be nobody could tell you who was in the jail, couldn't always tell you how long they'd been there, or what their crime was," Mitchell said. "That's no longer true. The key with the jail when you talk about it being too small is it's what's we can afford. If you opened (additional beds), we couldn't afford to staff them. The old jail was a pit. Fiscally, I think we did an excellent job with the new jail."