Joliet City Council candidates talk about reserve fund, police and other issues

JOLIET – A bit of a debate broke out at a Wednesday night forum for the candidates running for three at-large seats on the Joliet City Council over what the city should do with its $50-million-plus reserve fund.

The reserve fund was not one of a half-dozen questions posed by the forum organizers, who focused mainly on neighborhood issues.

The forum, attended by 13 of the 15 candidates, primarily consisted of candidates offering uncontroversial answers to the questions without taking exceptions to anyone else’s answers.

But Councilwoman Jan Quillman, while answering a question about neighborhood councils, commented on another candidate’s suggestion that it was time to start using the city’s reserve fund.

“We need to have that reserve for emergencies like when we had the tornado,” Quillman said. “You have your emergency fund at home. This is our emergency fund.”

Councilwoman Brooke Hernandez Brewer had just mentioned the reserve fund ahead of Quillman as she answered a question about how the city can upgrade the Jefferson Street, Ruby Street and McDonough Street corridors.

Brewer said the city should start dipping into the $50-million plus reserve to revitalize the city.

“We’re not hurting economically,” she said. “The recession is over.”

More police?

The comments were the one point in the forum where one candidate addressed a comment made by another, although Quillman did not mention Brewer by name. But candidates did express different views on whether the city needed more police.

Two of the questions focused on whether the city should add more officers to the Neighborhood Oriented Policing Team and how to fight rising crime in ways other than hiring police.

“The bottom line is we don’t need more policemen. We need more people who are committed to our young people,” Roger Powell Sr. said.

Michelle Stiff said she had not heard of the NOPT program and said it should be more visible. But she also said that young people needed “off-the-street opportunities to decrease the crime rate. ... We need to create more resources and opportunities for our youth.”

Some candidates, however, noted that police staffing is down from previous years.

“I do believe we need to increase the number of police officers on the Joliet Police Department,” Marc Ragusa said. “We need to make sure our police officers have the resources. We owe it to them.”

Diane Harris said police staffing is low and more officers should be hired. On NOPT, she said, “We do need them. There’s no question about that.”

But R. Dale Evans said, “I believe I would support social service programs that help young people before I add police.”

Don Dickinson noted his experience on the Joliet Township High School board and said, “We should work together as a community and try to get our kids involved in more things to keep them out of trouble.

Better business climate

One question that seemed to stump many of the candidates was how to make business thrive on the near West Side.

Rachel Ventura, however, reiterated a theme of her campaign, which was to create more tourism opportunities in Joliet. She said the city needed more shops to draw in people already traveling through Joliet because it’s on the Route 66 travel route.

“I see people on Route 66,” Ventura said. “They’re not spending money. They’re taking pictures and moving on.”

Alex Rodriguez said the city should look for entertainment venues to build up neighborhood business.

“The days of Sears Roebuck and Ace Hardware stores are over,” Rodriguez said. “We have to look at microbreweries that are coming into town.”

Aging corridors

Candidates also were challenged by the question of how to upgrade Jefferson, Ruby and McDonough streets,

“I would even consider using the gambling revenues for those areas,” Larry Crawford said, adding that visitors to Joliet need to see “a corridor that is inviting.”

Councilman Michael Turk noted that the corridors “are some of the oldest areas in the city. ... It’s an older city, and it needs more TLC. It needs some clean-up.”

Betty Washington pointed to a Quality of Life Task Force created in 2001 to address issues in the older sections of the city as a way to find answers to problems.

“That’s how you find out what residents really want – what they really need in their neighborhoods,” Washington said.

Two candidates did not attend the forum: Christian Egwunwoke and Nataniel Romeo.

THE CANDIDATES • Brooke Hernandez Brewer: incumbent councilwoman, appointed in October. • Larry Crawford: truancy specialist for Joliet Grade School District. • Don Dickinson: heavy equipment operator for Joliet Park District; school board member for Joliet Township High School District. • Christian Egwunwoke: business owner of Sunrise Rehab, Inc. • R. Dale Evans: business owner, Askia’s African Attire; school board member at Joliet Township High School District. • Diane M. Harris: independent insurance agent. • Roger W. Powell: retired; commissioner at Housing Authority of Joliet. • Jan Quillman: nurse at Silver Cross Hospital; incumbent councilwoman. • Marc P. Ragusa: engineering and project manager. • Alex Rodriguez: retail manager with Starbucks Coffee Company. • Nathaniel C. Romeo: retired from Will County Sheriff’s Department. • Michelle Stiff • Michael F. Turk: accountant/bookkeeper for Southern Will County Co-op for Special Education; incumbent councilman. • Rachel F. Ventura: business director for Legendary Games Publishing. * Betty J. Washington: assistant director for Illinois Action for Children; board member of Silver Cross Healthy Community Commission.