Longtime activist running for Batavia mayor

Longtime Batavia activist Britta McKenna announced Saturday she is running for mayor.

McKenna, 47, is executive director of Batavia MainStreet, a not-for-profit agency dedicated to improving the economic health of downtown Batavia. She's had that job since 2004.

"My picture, my vision, is really collaborative," McKenna said, saying she sees the mayor's role as being a consensus builder over what to do for Batavia.

She's become well known around town, since moving to Batavia in 1991.

She handled marketing and public relations for the six-year volunteer construction of the $3.2 million Batavia Riverwalk, which opened in 1997. She also served on the Batavia park board from 1999-2005, including a two-year stint as president.

She is studying for a master's degree in public administration at Northern Illinois University.

And the time is right personally, she said. Her two sons are in college. She said if she is elected mayor, she likely would quit her MainStreet job.

Mayor Jeff Schielke, who has served since 1981, said earlier this week he expects to decide after Christmas whether he will run again. He was unopposed in his last two elections, and in two others. He's the longest-serving mayor in Kane County. Schielke is executive chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.

"I'm not running against him," McKenna said. "I'm running for the position."