Thomas M. Connelly: 2025 candidate for Batavia mayor

Bio

Office Sought: Batavia mayor

City: Batavia

Age: 33

Occupation: Attorney

Previous offices held: Alderman on Batavia City Council (2021-23) and Commissioner on Batavia Historic Preservation Commission (2023 to present)

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? Also, what makes you the best candidate for the position?

I am running for mayor of Batavia because I am committed to building and sustaining a bright future for Batavia and all its residents. I have a track record of dedicating my time to our government through previously serving as alderman on city council and currently serving on the Historic Preservation Commission.

In these roles, I am familiar with the important issues that Batavia faces and how to address them. An important issue to my campaign and vision for the future of Batavia is the lack of progress and stalled development in our downtown. I am motivated to make Batavia a business-friendly community and implement plans that will support the businesses we already have by actively attracting new businesses and developers who align with the character of Batavia to establish a diverse range of businesses that will complement one another and help each other succeed.

I am the best candidate for the position because I will work with city council, community organizations, and residents to see that Batavia achieves its long-term goals, as I have the energy, commitment, and leadership skills to see that these goals are implemented and accomplished.

What is the most serious issue your community will face in coming years and how should leaders respond to it?

The most serious issue our community faces every year is maintaining a healthy budget to make sure that Batavia remains a place residents can afford to live and businesses can thrive.

Specifically, Batavia continues to face increasing challenges to maintain a budget because sources of funding historically available to local governments, like the Local Government Distributive Funds, have been decreased or failed to be restored to previous levels.

Other upcoming state legislation even further repeals other sources of revenue previously available to Batavia. To face these challenges, we must be proactive in generating other sources of revenue available so that we can accomplish our goals and projects without saddling our residents with the costs. One way to make sure Batavia generates revenue is to fill the empty development sites and empty restaurant/retail storefronts with projects and businesses that generate revenue for the city.

My vision for the future of Batavia includes making our downtown and the Randall Road corridor thriving business centers that generate as much money as possible for the city to help keep the burden off the taxpayers.

How would you describe the state of your community's finances? What should be the top priorities for spending during the next few years? Are there areas of spending that need to be curtailed?

Batavia is generally in a healthy financial position. However, as described above, Batavia faces continuing challenges to increase revenue without placing all the burden on taxpaying residents. There remain major projects ahead that do not currently have the necessary funding to be met.

So, we must be aggressive in establishing new, sustainable sources of revenue to help those projects come to fruition. The top priorities for spending should always be budgeted items that address safety in our community and provide for increased quality of life for our residents.

We must make sure that we provide our police and fire departments with the resources and staffing they need to continue to provide our residents with excellent services. We must also prioritize maintaining and repairing our infrastructure so that we have safe utilities, roads, and transportation options available to our residents.

Our government should work as efficiently as possible while still providing high quality services. As mayor, I would always review our budget to see if there were any areas where the city could be operating more efficiently and cost-effectively.

What do you see as the most important infrastructure project you must address? Why and how should it be paid for? Conversely, during these uncertain economic times, what project(s) can be put on the back burner?

An important infrastructure project facing our community is the Batavia Dam. The dam, the Fox River, and the Depot Pond are very significant to Batavia’s history and the character of our downtown. Our location along the river is attractive for both residents and businesses.

Preserving the Depot Pond and maintaining the health of the Fox River is a top priority for me as mayor. It is important that we listen to and learn from the experts concerning any infrastructure project related to the dam and the Fox River.

We must also work closely with other municipalities up and down the river to make a cohesive plan, as each community’s decision will impact one another. Finally, it is critical that we work closely with county, state, and federal officials that are involved in the dam decision making process, as they may have funding available to address the issue so that Batavia does not need to pay for the project itself.

Specifically, we must be creative in securing sources of funding through other levels of government such as the Illinois Department of Natural Resources or the Army Corps of Engineers, both of which have been key stakeholders in the decision-making process.

Describe your leadership style and explain how you think it will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions with your city council.

My leadership style is built upon strong communication skills and a commitment to achieving results. As mayor, I will prioritize setting clear, attainable goals for city council and our city staff and ensure that everyone understands their role in achieving those goals. I intend to put processes in place to maintain accountability and drive productivity.

I will also lead by maintaining open lines of communication between city council, city staff, businesses, and residents. As a leader, I also believe it is important to actively listen to promote an inclusive environment to encourage open dialogue and collaboration.

A successful leader must also understand that they may not always immediately know the correct answer to a particular issue, but they must know the right questions to ask or the right persons to rely on to get to the best result.

What’s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

As mayor, I intend to set out to build a more collaborative relationship with other surrounding municipalities and community organizations. We are blessed to have strong community organizations in Batavia that understand the issues that our community faces.

Likewise, the other local governments in our surrounding area also experience challenges similar to those we face in Batavia. I intend to strengthen the relationship between our city government with that of other local governments and the many community organizations we have in Batavia. Doing so will hopefully lead to a more efficient and effective local government in Batavia.