Lifestyle

Fox Valley mayors look ahead to 2021

Posted January 01, 2021 5:00 am

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin says his hope is to "restore the complete health of the community through the mitigation, vaccination and eventual eradication of COVID-19." Daily Herald file photo

The Daily Herald asked Fox Valley mayors and village presidents to look ahead to 2021 and identify the most important thing they hope their community can accomplish in the coming year. Here's what they said ...

<h3 class="leadin">Algonquin

<h3 class="leadin">Debby Sosine

We will continue to strive for excellence, provide exceptional services to our citizens with a balanced budget, and find ways to improve ourselves and services. We've made many positive changes this year that will become a permanent part of our operations. I sincerely hope our community will continue supporting our local stores and restaurants so they all succeed and thrive in 2021.

<h3 class="leadin">Aurora

<h3 class="leadin">Richard Irvin

In 2021, my hope is to restore the complete health of the community through the mitigation, vaccination and eventual eradication of COVID-19. We then can return more than just a sense of normalcy and refocus on the renaissance of the City of Lights. We are still Aurora Strong.

<h3 class="leadin">Batavia

Batavia Mayor Jeffery Schielke

Jeffery Schielke

In the coming year, I hope we can continue the redevelopment of our downtown with a focus on the continued enhancement of our Fox River frontage along both banks of the water way. We enjoy one of the most picturesque Fox River banks which is viewed by thousands of visitors to our downtown and those enjoying the Fox River bike trail network.

<h3 class="leadin">Cary

<h3 class="leadin">Mark Kownick

The new Cary Municipal Center is scheduled to be substantially complete by the fall of 2021. In addition to the new Municipal Center project, we have and will continue to work tirelessly supporting our local businesses and keeping our community safe.

<h3 class="leadin">Carpentersville

Carpentersville Village President John Skillman says the village has had success converting distressed properties. He said the Huntley Square building is being demolished.

John Skillman

We understand that 2020 has been difficult for many residents and businesses, due to circumstances that nobody could have fully predicted a year ago. We are cautiously optimistic that all of the measures we took to help residents - waiving late charges and setting up payment plans for water billing, as well as the incentives we provided to businesses, such as the license fee rebates and Shop Carpentersville initiative - will allow people and businesses to transition to 2021 financially intact and poised to have a better year. We understand these are relatively small measures in the grand scheme of a global pandemic, but we take pride in doing what we can to help our residents. We hope to see all of our residents safe, and we hope all of our businesses remain open.

<h3 class="leadin">Elgin

Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain says the challenge for 2021 will be for "residents and businesses to adapt to the new world being created by the pandemic." Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

Dave Kaptain

The challenge for 2021 will be for residents and businesses to adapt to the new world being created by the pandemic. Work at home, zooming, remote education, and social distancing to name a few are all new and growing concepts. How many will survive after the pandemic subsides is anyone's guess but we need to prepare for them to be part of our everyday life in some form.

<h3 class="leadin">Geneva

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns says officials welcome the continued cooperation of stakeholders "to help navigate the strategic reinvestments necessary to help rebuild where needed, recalibrate where necessary and recommit ourselves to making Geneva a premier community ..." Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

Kevin Burns

In fiscal year 2021, we welcome the continued cooperation of all Geneva stakeholders to help navigate the strategic reinvestments necessary to help rebuild where needed, recalibrate where necessary and recommit ourselves to making Geneva a premier community in which to live, learn, work play and raise a family.

<h3 class="leadin">Hampshire

<h3 class="leadin">Jeffrey Magnussen

For 2021 the main goal is to connect our two water systems so we have redundancy in our system. As always we will be looking to expand our truck stop area and industrial park in the village.

<h3 class="leadin">North Aurora

North Aurora Village President Dale Berman

Dale Berman

As you know, this year many businesses have been struggling due to the pandemic. With the hope that things begin to stabilize next year, I would like to see North Aurora accomplish balanced growth in all areas of our town. We have been fortunate to have had interest from new businesses and housing developments during the pandemic and I hope next year to see that interest increase so we may grow both our economy and also the diversity of our business and housing stock. The Village is in a strong financial position and we want to see businesses and developments come into our town that create a diverse, well-balanced selection that will fit our community.

<h3 class="leadin">South Elgin

<h3 class="leadin">Steve Ward

Our continuing toward the widening of McLean Boulevard will be our bigger project for 2021, hopefully to be completed in 2022. We don't have any large projects scheduled for the upcoming year. We will be giving our attention to what we have already in South Elgin and enhancing it will be our goal for 2021.

<h3 class="leadin">St. Charles

<h3 class="leadin">Ray Rogina

In 2021, the city of St. Charles will respond to assisting as needed in the distribution of a vaccine. It will welcome a return to some degree of normal with a solid foundational organization to bring the city to new heights in ingenuity, creativity and development.

<h3 class="leadin">Sugar Grove

Sugar Grove Village President Sean Michels

Sean Michels

For 2021, the village will see the opening of Prairie Pointe Assisted Living. This facility will accommodate 53 residents for daily needs assistance and 17 residents for memory care. The other major focus is the planning and development of 40 acres south of Galena Boulevard on the west side of Route 47 for retail stores and restaurants.

<h3 class="leadin">West Dundee

<h3 class="leadin">Christopher Nelson

The most important thing we hope to accomplish within the coming year is to continue to be an advocate and a resource to help our business community rebuild their businesses that were affected through this year's unprecedented difficulties. The village will continue to work closely with our business community to help promote their individual businesses and assist them in rebuilding their client base and patrons.

I expect the village will continue to build upon the strong foundation of our community and its tax base through continued economic development efforts, including new developments along Route 31 and Randall Road, as well as existing redevelopments in and around Spring Hill Mall and downtown West Dundee, all while continuing to provide the businesses and residents of West Dundee some of the finest municipal service levels in the Fox Valley.

Most importantly, we hope to get West Dundee back to some type of normalcy in terms of the village's overall status of our community and its community events that are an intricate part of what makes West Dundee a very special place.

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