Elgin mayor holds 'Walk with Mayor'

Elgin residents can see Mayor David Kaptain at council meetings and community events, during online live chats, and now, in their own neighborhoods.

Kaptain will launch his latest effort to get people involved in city government Wednesday with the first Walk with the Mayor. Kaptain suggested the program during a March meeting of Activate Elgin, a coalition focused on making Elgin residents healthier.

But the latest effort is one of many Kaptain has tried in his first year as mayor.

“I think it's really important that people understand what's going on in their government and they take an active role,” Kaptain said.

While Elgin's previous mayors have been involved in the community to varying degrees, Kaptain's focus on engaging the average resident may be unparalleled.

Cherie Murphy, assistant to the city manager on community engagement, noted that Kaptain's predecessor Ed Schock was very involved, but in a different way.

“The key focus of (Kaptain) is to do community outreach in new and different ways that we've never done before,” Murphy said.

New technology is helping Kaptain's outreach efforts, allowing him to expand the online chats that started with Schock. For the last year, Kaptain has hosted streaming conversations with residents about once per month at different community locations. Many focused on a specific policy item with staff members on hand to answer questions or explain projects.

The new plan is to hold the online chats at noon and encourage people to tune in on their lunch breaks. The next session is scheduled for June 6.

The Walk with the Mayor program is designed to promote healthy behavior among residents. Kaptain said each walk will last less than 45 minutes and get people moving around. Residents can also take the opportunity to talk about problems in their neighborhoods or ask questions of the mayor during the evening walks.

The exercise program will start at 6:30 p.m. in St. Francis Park, 227 Jefferson Ave., with plans to walk through five other neighborhoods before the summer ends.

Kaptain already walks 2 to 3 miles each day and hopes residents will join him for the activity.

Besides meeting residents and making himself available to the community, Kaptain has also made an effort to invite people into policy-making.

A budget and financial planning task force met last fall to add citizen input to the 2012 budget discussion and at least two new committees will be created to finalize the city's strategic plan.

“The people within our community need to be part of the planning process for the future of our community,” Kaptain said.

Details about the strategic planning committees will be finalized in coming weeks.

For more information about Kaptain's community engagement efforts, visit cityofelgin.org/mayorkaptain.