James McKelvie: 2021 candidate for Campton Hills village trustee
In the April 6 consolidated election, five candidates are vying for three, 4-year terms on the Campton Hills Village Board. The candidates are incumbents James McKelvie and Michael D. Millette, and newcomers Timothy W. Morgan Sr., Ed Muncie, and Kimberly Weiss
The Daily Herald asked the candidates several questions about issues facing the village.
Below are McKelvie's responses.
In-person early voting begins March 10 only at the Kane County Clerk's Office, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Bldg. B, in Geneva and the Aurora satellite office, 5 E. Downer Place, Suite F. In-person early voting at locations throughout the county begins March 22. Learn more at www.kanecountyclerk.org/Elections.
Bio
Town: Campton Hills
Age: 71
Occupation: Retired chief franchise officer at Yum! Brands KFC
Civic involvement: Current village trustee; Community Relations Committee (2015-18), Planning and Zoning Commission liaison (2019), worked with local citizens to keep Wasco Elementary School open (2015-16)
Q&A
Q: How do you view your role in confronting the pandemic: provide leadership even if unpopular, give a voice to constituents - even ones with whom you disagree, or defer to state and federal authorities?
A: I believe the village was able to align very quickly with the guidelines provided by the county, state, and federal governments. As you know, there were many starts and stops as our national medical community got a better understanding of this deadly COVID virus. So the village's communication on this was critical.
We utilized all our communication tools to get the word out. We used our weekly email blasts, placed the guidelines in a prominent position on our website, all our public meetings went on Zoom, and had one-on-one discussions with our business owners. As a trustee, it was great to see the board totally unified in making sure our community was aligned. We unified around the message to "buy local" to help our businesses survive during this tough time. We had signs made urging our community to buy local.
There were a couple of businesses who didn't totally agree with the state's guidelines, but they were a small exception. Certainly, the residents I spoke with very much appreciated the positive leadership the village board provided during this tough time. Even though our restaurants were already under stress, there was a wonderful collaborative effort among them, our community, and our police department. Our police department was a fantastic catalyst during this difficult time. They spearheaded a plan giving $6,000 in gifts from donations and delivering 250 meals from our restaurants to those in need. They also delivered 27 complete meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
It was an all-out effort on their part. It is this type of community spirit and generosity which makes our village great!
Q: Did your town continue to adequately serve its constituents during the disruptions caused by the pandemic? If so, please cite an example of how it successfully adjusted to providing services. If not, please cite a specific example of what could have been done better.
A: As discussed in my prior answer, our community displayed a real coming together during this tough and difficult time.
Q: In light of our experiences with COVID-19, what safeguards/guidelines should you put in place to address any future public health crises?
A: If there is a blessing in having gone through this pandemic, it is that the village now has experience in how to lead through this type of crisis. From this experience, we have learned so much. This experience will enable us to create a "playbook" to help us navigate through any future crisis. We would be able to quickly execute through the necessary coordination efforts among the village, county, state, and the federal governments. In addition, the board takes a proactive approach by budgeting $100,000 every year to be utilized in emergencies like this.
Q: What cuts can local government make to reduce the burden of the pandemic on taxpayers?
A: The village of Campton Hills is in a rare and unique situation where our residents have no municipal tax. As a trustee, I plan to keep it that way. Therefore, there was no need to reduce any tax burden.
Q: 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 infrastructure project can be put on the back burner?
A: Road resurfacing is clearly the number one issue our village faces. It is an issue not only here, but also in most of the towns in Illinois. In the past, the village took a repair/patch as you go approach. In the last year, the board approved an analytical approach to complete a total study of all 91 miles of our village roads. The study utilized "RoadBotics" to travel all our roads.
The findings confirmed there is a significant portion of roads that are below average to poor. We are currently in the middle of our budget process. Now the task for the board is to take this analysis and develop an annual ongoing funding plan to tackle this issue.
As to the question of what needs to be put on the back burner, I say there isn't anything that needs to go there. I believe my fellow trustees and me have been excellent financial stewards of the village finances. Our police pension fund is one of only 5 communities in Illinois which is totally funded. We have always budgeted wisely and continually strive to increase our reserves.
At the end of this year, we will retire our only debt which is the remaining financial note on the village hall. Then our village will be debt free. I'm proud to be part of this process in which we continue to annually operate at or under budget even this pandemic year. Improving our roads will be a challenge, but it shouldn't put a stop to any other ongoing plans.
Q: Do you plan to address businesses that don't adhere to the governor's order to close or restrict business?
A: We immediately communicated the state's guidelines and where there wasn't compliance, discussions with the business owner took place. These one-on-one communications were very effective.
As I stated earlier, only a couple of our businesses had some issues with parts of the guidelines. Mask adherence was one concern, but we didn't have any legal jurisdiction to demand compliance. On this particular mask issue, the Kane County Health Department, which had legal authority, did take action.
Q: Do you agree or disagree with the stance your board has taken on permitting recreational marijuana sales in the community? What would you change about that stance, if you could?
A: As a board, we had lots of input from our citizens, the medical community, and law enforcement. We also looked at the data from other states where it was permitted. We took a very data-driven approach and had many healthy and robust discussions. In the end, the board voted unanimously not to permit marijuana sales in our village. At this point, I would not change anything about the decision. I do believe that after another year or so, we could take a look at the data from the state and our surrounding communities who have permitted it and see what the effects were.
Q: What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?
A: While I believe we have consistently challenged ourselves on improving communications, I would like to see our village create a Facebook page. This election has shown me the bad side of social media. There are a number of sites that have our village's name as part of their name. However, many of us are blocked from interacting with it. Many posts are stating outright untrue facts about what is occurring in our local government. Social media is today's new "Town Square," yet only a few are allowed to participate in the dialogue.
By creating our own Facebook page, the village would be able to communicate the actual facts. If we do this, I believe many of our residents would feel much more connected to the village.