Karsten Pawlik: 2025 candidate for Geneva mayor

Bio

Office Sought: Geneva mayor

City: Geneva

Age: 58

Occupation: VP Operations

Previous offices held: None

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?

First of all I love Geneva. Geneva is a great city but I believe we are in crisis with stalled developments, bad decisions on developments, and a failed referendum attempt for new city infrastructure as examples. I can fix this!

After 24 years of unchanged leadership our city government has become complacent. There is a noticeable lack of concern or motivation to address or foresee potential issues. This is not out of malice or neglect, but out of the belief that everything is fine. We need to challenge ourselves to look into the future with fresh eyes and an open mind. Change has to happen for this complacency to stop. I’m running for office to help make that change happen. Being part of that change is my motivation for running for mayor.

What makes me the best candidate is that I have the education and experience to help us with the pressing issues we have now, and can foresee in the future. My experience dealing with legislators and lobbyists is a major asset when dealing with the state. My experience in business and development will not only benefit us in addressing our police, fire, and city hall needs, but ultimately save the city millions of taxpayers dollars.

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

No single issue should have precedent over another. We need to prioritize the issues and come up with and execute on solutions. We need to deal with the state on delayed funds. We need to address the need for a new police station and city hall.

We need to address renovations to our fire department and public works buildings. These and many other issues need to addressed simultaneously. While funds may dictate what occurs first, they all should be addressed.

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?

When you consider we just recently discussed asking the public for almost $100 million for needed improvements and upgrades, to say our finances are great would be disingenuous. The city was working with bad data when presenting the referendum to the citizens. How much money and time was wasted in the failed referendum? Top priorities are the safety of our citizens, helping out businesses, government efficiency and infrastructure improvements.

We should put a hiring freeze in place until we determine what positions are needed, what positions can be combined, and what positions can be eliminated. Our population has decreased each year but we keep adding management positions.

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?

Any discussion about a new city hall and some of the improvements to the Westside Fire Department building should be delayed. We should move forward with a new police department. Anything regarding public safety should take priority. Because we didn’t plan ahead we will have no choice but to go to referendum for funds, but for considerably less than half the original sum of $68 million.

Part of the $68 million referendum was asking for $45 million for a new police station but we were given no details. St. Charles recently built a new 56,000-square-foot police station for $24.6 million. My experience with construction and finance will help come up with a plan for any new infrastructure in a timely manner and on budget.

Moving forward we need to cut unneeded spending and increase sales tax revenue. Filling empty storefronts will generate additional sales tax dollars.

Developing empty sites will add property tax revenue. Cutting jobs will ease the burden on the budget. The jobs we should consider cutting should not be the workforce for the city but staff positions.

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 just that, to lead, not to dictate. We have 10 elected aldermen whose job is to make decisions for the betterment of the city and its residents. Geneva has an aldermanic form of government.

I want to allow them to do the job they want to do. Our alderman, who have been elected by the residents, have to jump through hoops to get items on the city agenda for discussion. This hampers open discussion. It’s time to allow for an open exchange of ideas between our elected officials. We have a representative form of government. We need to get back to that idea.

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

We need to eliminate the committee of the whole system and go back to the committee system where each alderman sits on one or two committees. This allows the alderman to learn firsthand on what’s happening. They will no longer be limited to a secondhand report delivered by a staff member but will hear directly from department heads.