Elgin picks 12 to head budget task force
After almost 60 people applied to volunteer their time and help the Elgin City Council make tough budget decisions, Mayor David Kaptain and City Manager Sean Stegall have announced the official group of 13.
Stegall and Kaptain described the members of the Budget and Financial Planning Task Force as a diverse group of people based on gender, age, race, background and residential location in the city.
Kaptain said he had to recruit for some of that diversity, ultimately receiving very few applications from Latino community members and none from the Laotian community.
“In one way that was kind of disappointing,” Kaptain said. “To me, this whole process is going to be an opportunity for people who have said they’ve been underserved to participate.”
Kaptain said the task force doesn’t reflect the ethnic diversity of Elgin, but it is as diverse as he and Stegall could have made it given the applicant pool.
The group is tasked with making recommendations to the city council about budget policy decisions. It will not parse the budget for line-by-line review. Kaptain said that is the job of the city staff and the council.
“They need to give us what the vision is for the community going forward,” Kaptain said. “It will be input in broad brush strokes over what we spend our money on and where we get our revenue from.”
About half of the task force members have municipal budget experience, including former Elgin councilman Thomas Sandor and former Elgin Chief Financial Officer James Nowicki.
Carl Missele, a past president of Elgin Community Network, will serve as the chairman of the task force and be a nonvoting member except in the case of a tie. Missele also served on the Lords Park Task Force and expects the groups to function in a similar way, ultimately prioritizing a list of recommendations for the council.
“I have high expectations,” Missele said. “I think the committee is going to do a good job.”
George Hahne, director of Marketplace Media Group, is the only member of the task force who does not live in Elgin. He has run his Elgin business in the city for 18 years, saying he feels both a business and personal connection to Elgin.
Hahne said the task force gives a smart group of people the chance to come together to evaluate and analyze city services then assign a dollar value to their importance.
“We all have to re-examine how we spend money,” Hahne said. “We have to examine what is important to us and what is essential to run a city.”
The task force will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays from Aug. 9 through the end of September in the Heritage Ballroom of The Centre, 100 Symphony Way. The meetings are open to the public and will allow for resident input.
Who’s on the committee
<B>Carl Missele </B>(chairman): Expert on community engagement, education, meeting facilitation
<B>Barbara Bonner</B>: Expert on public education/administration
<B>Jen Carr</B>: Expert on financial lending
<B>Karla Guzman</B>: Expert on community engagement and outreach
<B>George Hahne</B>: Expert on economic development and marketing
<B>May Hopkins</B>: Expert on social work, workforce development
<B>William Kelty</B>: Expert on information technology, health care
<B>Karen Maki</B>: Expert on public administration and community engagement
<B>James Nowicki</B>: Expert on government finance
<B>Keith Rauschenberger</B>: Expert on corporate finance
<B>Thomas Sandor</B>: Expert on business accounting
<B>Patricia Segel</B>: Expert on human resources
<B>Toby Shaw</B>: Expert on business management
Source: city of Elgin