How DuPage County Board District 5 candidates define the biggest issues facing the county

Voters in DuPage County Board District 5 will decide two county board races in the Nov. 3 election.

Incumbent county board member Dawn DeSart of Aurora faces a challenge from Aurora resident Daniel Alejandro Lomeli for a two-year seat.

Ian Holzhauer, a Naperville city councilman, and Naperville Park District board member Chris Jacks are vying for a four-year term.

DeSart and Holzhauer are running as Democrats, while Lomeli and Jacks are on the ballot as Republicans.

The candidates for both positions offer varying views on the top issues facing DuPage County and ways to address any services to residents that the county may be lacking.

District 5 includes parts of Naperville, Lisle, Aurora, Warrenville and Woodridge.

Two-year seat candidates

Dawn DeSart, who began her time as a county board member in 2018, is a 63-year-old Aurora resident who says food insecurity and mental health are the biggest issues for the county. She says the board is addressing both challenges by opening the Crisis Recovery Center a year ago to support people during mental health emergencies and granting millions in funding to the county’s 83 food pantries.

Sales tax revenue, which DeSart describes as one of the county’s main income streams, can be used to continue supporting pantries, she said.

“Much of those funds can go to the food insecure, and nonprofits that help the unemployed and underemployed,” DeSart wrote in a candidate questionnaire submitted to the Daily Herald.

DeSart’s challenger is Daniel Alejandro Lomeli, a 23-year-old Auroran who describes himself as a “team player” and lifelong DuPage County resident who helps run his family’s business.

Lomeli says the biggest issues in DuPage are transportation infrastructure and affordable housing, and he would like to see the county expand efforts to address housing insecurity and poverty.

“We need to push for amenities that allow more of our homeless population to seek shelter,

but we also need to push for better quality support for people who are at risk of becoming homeless,” Lomeli said in his questionnaire.

Four-year seat candidates

Ian Holzhauer has served as a Naperville City Council member since 2021 and now is running against Chris Jacks, a Naperville park board member since 2023, for a four-year term on the DuPage County Board.

Holzhauer, a 44-year-old Naperville attorney, says the strain on local governments caused by decreasing federal funding is the top issue facing the county, and he’d like to see DuPage focus on essential services such as food and mental health.

“Essentially, (local governments) are serving a larger population of people in need with less resources,” Holzhauer wrote in his questionnaire. “Aside from changes at the federal level, we need to continue to prioritize life-saving services.”

For most residents of District 5 and DuPage County, Jacks says the biggest issue is “maintaining the quality of life that makes our communities desirable, while keeping the cost of government and the property-tax burden under control.”

Jacks, a 57-year-old IT program manager of Naperville, said careful scrutiny of budgets and long-term spending commitments can help the county strike the best balance between services and fiscal responsibility.

“The goal should be to preserve DuPage County's high quality of life,” Jacks said in his questionnaire, “while making it affordable for families and seniors to remain here.”

• Marie Wilson is a freelance reporter for the Daily Herald.