This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Aurora area in the Nov. 5 election.
The race for the Kane County Board seat in District 4 this fall is between incumbent Democrat Mavis Bates and independent candidate Robert Dennin. There is no Republican candidate on the ballot.
The general election is set for Nov. 5.
Bates, 76, of Aurora, is seeking her third term on the board and said while canvassing neighborhoods, voters are concerned about four things – mental health, safe neighborhoods, good jobs for young workers and saving taxpayer money.
“Mental health is about more funding, more issues because of COVID and mental health means also behavioral health which includes substance abuse and people are eager to keep kids off drugs,” she said.
Safe neighborhoods include slowing down in residential areas as well as “more policing, and street lights.”
Young people are looking for good jobs, she said.
“When I knock on doors, those that answer and are young people, they’re looking for better jobs,” she said.
Saving taxpayer money includes “getting more grant money for new proposals, and we must demand that the taxpayers’ money matters – every penny,” Bates said.
If reelected to a third term, Bates said goals include working on “a thriving economy, which includes our new strategic business plan and launching our new EDO – economic development office.”
“The economy and launching new things, we need to continue that,” Bates said. “I’m on the Jobs Committee, and we are launching a new strategic business plan for the county that will launch a thousand ships called the Kane County Economic Development Strategic Plan.”
Bates adds that “another goal is putting families and children first. That includes mental health and whatever families and kids need to make them thrive.”
Bates also said she “wants to continue to protect the environment and find more grant money” in order to add to initiatives she has worked on in her first two terms.
Dennin, 62, of Aurora, said when talking to people in the district, “taxes and the economy” are the big issues.
“People haven’t been raising other issues. I talk about things I’m interested in and people go along, but they haven’t raised other concerns,” Dennin said.
“People say taxes are too high and many people don’t understand the tax system and how the county gets 4% and the biggest part that’s left goes to the schools,” Dennin said. “I have to clarify that a lot of the time. The bulk of the property taxes do go to support the schools, and I fully support that. But it’s that 4% that goes to the county in and of itself, that is where our issues lie in terms of the spending that we are going through right now.”
Dennin said there is still a lot of education needed about tax bills.
“It boils down to my being transparent with them and saying, ‘I can’t lower your taxes but I can promise you I will vote no on new tax initiatives directed at county residents,’” Dennin said.
If elected, Dennin said he would like to work on increasing transparency, and reining in spending.
“I want to rein in spending at the county level. I feel like in the last four years, spending has gotten out of control and we’ve got a spending crisis and understanding where all that money is going and where we can be more fiscally responsible in managing that money,” Dennin said. “Because at the end of the day – it’s not the government’s money – it’s the people’s money, and we want to be responsible with that like people are with their own budgets.”
Dennin said he’d “like to come up with a way that’s more transparent at the county board level.”
“Right now, the only communication is on the county’s website and when I talk to people and mention it I get the message of ‘I don’t go there’ so I feel like we can do a better job with some kind of mailer,” he said. “I know there’s a cost to that, but on the other hand, I feel it’s imperative we inform the other residents of the county what’s going on. Overall, the biggest opportunity is finances and where is the money going and is it being spent appropriately.”
Dennin also said he feels there is a need for term limits.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
