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Name: John “JJ” Wett
Age: 33
Town: Genoa
Office sought: County Board Member District 2
Occupation: Marriage and Family Therapist
Education: Masters of Science
Party: Democratic
Elected offices held: None
Website: jjwett.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jwett55
Questions:
1. Why are you the best person to represent your district on the County Board?
After graduating from NIU, I served on the DeKalb Commission for Disabilities from 2009 to 2013 and served as Assistant Scoutmaster for Kingston Boy Scout Troop 47 from 2010 to 2012. Currently, I am a member of the Transition Planning Committee which helps young adults with disabilities transition into adulthood. Recently I have been named Chairperson of the Board for Avancer Homes & Genesis Developmental Training Center. All of these accomplishments are great but that only gives you a glimpse of who I am!
I was born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) which deteriorates my voluntary muscles. Spinal muscular atrophy has not "destroyed" my life, it has made me the man I am today. It has made me a person of understanding, able to see others' troubles more easily, and gifted me with my ability to help others. My disease has allowed me to see life in a way that is different than most people. The man I am today would have never existed had it not been for SMA.
As your representative for the County Board, I will continually listen to and advocate for all the constituents that I represent. I will fight to keep farmers secure and prosperous, help build the middle class, and secure a budget that helps defend social services.
2. What is an issue specific to your district that the County Board needs to address?
Small businesses and worker co-ops help build the middle class from the inside out! According to Forbes, “We often hear that small businesses are the engines of job creation in the United States. Their value and the role they play in our economy is sometimes underestimated because, they are in fact, small. But the truth is there’s nothing small about the impact they have on our economy.” According to Entrepreneur Magazine, there are approximately 25 million to 27 million small businesses in the United States of America that account for 60 to 80 percent of all jobs. Also, another recent study by Paychex says that small businesses produce 13 times more patents than larger firms.
Worker co-ops are business entities that are owned and controlled by their members, the people who work in them. A great example is Hy-Vee in Sycamore; workers report that because they have an ownership stake in the businesses their productivity is higher, absenteeism is lower, and they are much more satisfied with their jobs.
Locally owned small businesses make us the county we are! By purchasing local goods and services, the revenue stays in the county which allows business owners to reinvest locally.
3. Do wind turbines belong in DeKalb County? Under what circumstances would you vote to approve new wind energy projects?
With global climate change rapidly increasing each year, we are in desperate need to combat the effects that have occurred. Every year we see our winters getting more snow or colder temperatures and every summer we see our temperatures getting even hotter. At this point, I don’t see how anybody can deny the effects climate change has on our county, let alone the economic impacts climate change has.
Climate change has a snowball effect that not only affects our income, it also affects the state of our county.
According to several nationwide studies, farmers have been yielding less crop each year thus giving our county less and less revenue. If it hasn’t hit DeKalb County, it is only a matter of time. Without this revenue, you can see our county roads deteriorating more. Without money to repair our roads, our vehicles must endure the damage caused by potholes and unsafe roads. With the damage to our vehicles, we must repair them to keep traveling. Thus, costing us more of our own money!
Without the revenue coming from our main source of farming, we must rely on the other sources of revenue which are slowly fading. Our jobs are slowly traveling overseas because labor is cheaper, and the CEOs of our corporations are making more money.
With wind farms we can start to reduce the effects of global climate change. As a known fact, fossil fuels are a big contributor to the thinning of the ozone causing accelerated climate change. Wind farms can start to reverse these effects and create jobs.
With that said, I will only vote in favor of the wind farms if it is equitable to our county, addresses ALL citizen concerns, and the companies in charge of commissioning and decommissioning are held fully accountable.
4. There is growing interest in using rural land for solar energy generation. Do you see these projects as beneficial for DeKalb County?
Just like wind turbines, solar energy will reverse the effects of climate change. When I was in college at Northern Illinois University, a biology professor told me that with global climate change you observe for weather extremes not rising temperatures. Extremes are caused by overall rise in temperature, but we don’t necessarily see it in our weather patterns. As the citizens of DeKalb County, we need to be the leaders in saving our planet. Twenty years from now, do we not want the people of the earth to look at DeKalb County as leading the way in reforming our planet?
Solar panels can be installed on nearly every roof, as well as on the ground, and still produce enough power to meet the majority of our electrical needs. Contrary to wind turbines, solar panels do not have moving parts, which results in less maintenance requirements. In addition to not requiring as much maintenance, solar panels are much more easily installed than wind turbines. A farmer could install a solar panel in a vacant field to produce extra income for their business.
In the end, I see solar energy projects as beneficial to the county to help reverse climate change and help with economic development. Once again, I will only vote in favor of solar farms if it is equitable to our county, addresses ALL citizen concerns, and the companies in charge of commissioning and decommissioning are held fully accountable.
5. The county board is now evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans. What might change if your party secures a majority this election?
Over the past 10 years, there have been Democrats and Republicans on the county board that work together for the betterment of the county. I believe that both parties need to have open dialogue in order to be true representatives for the citizens of DeKalb County. The current times strain many of the core assumptions and institutions that sustain our nation’s unique brand of democracy. There is no question that our nation is split. This is not a novel feature in our diverse society, and it is certainly no excuse for a disappointment to govern. In Federalist No. 10, Madison saw the vital relationship between political freedom and political conflict stating, “Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire.”
To help govern a divided nation, our goal must not be to reduce the differences that flow from our freedoms. Instead, we must embrace and engage our variances in the pursuit of broadly acceptable policy.
6. Can the County Board reduce the property tax burden on residents? How?
The county should always prioritize taking care of its most vulnerable citizens. These groups include minorities, children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and veterans. By protecting them, we are not only performing a basic human duty -- we are also ensuring diversity in the workforce, opportunities to learn from one another, and new businesses ideas. Thus, the biggest priority for the budget should be protection of social services that serve these citizens.
If we do not keep social services at the top of the list when creating a budget, we will end up with more high school dropouts, homelessness, and in turn to crime rate will rise. One of my goals while in office will be to expand social services sector to cover the Genoa-Kingston area.
In addition to protecting social services, I would like to continue to cut the budget in areas where it won't affect jobs. For example, by instituting mental health in the county jail, we will be able to cut the amount of money spent on housing inmates. No one will lose their job, and we will save money -- a win-win situation.
DeKalb County has a property tax cap and is non-home rule so our options to raise revenue are unfortunately very slim. Instead, I will advocate for the state of Illinois to implement a graduated income tax and switch away from property taxes. Doing this could increase people wanting to buy and own homes in DeKalb County and Illinois as a whole which will increase population and revenue.
7. Each year the county must decide how to spend its limited funds for the services it provides. What are your top three budget priorities?
States spent $52 billion on corrections in fiscal year 2008, and policymakers across the country are realizing that the expense of incarcerating so many people is reducing resources available for investments in social structures like human service providers. Our current justice system imprisons many people who could have been held accountable in the community and safely supervised if necessary. Many people with substance abuse problems or mental illness do not have access to community-based treatment and may be more likely to end up behind bars because of offenses related to these illnesses (Justice Policy Institute, 2010).
With the amount of human service providers in DeKalb County, we would be able to reduce the recidivism rate of the DeKalb County Jail by 50%. Instead of using the jail for funds, we can give those funds to human service providers who serve the most at-risk residents of the county. Currently the Sheriff's Office uses $6,677,500 of the county's budget. With the mental health program that I will institute, we can save approximately $1.5 million. That money will be used to fund agencies and allow them to continue expanding their services.
Several policies in the past eight years have helped the business climate and job growth in DeKalb County. With the implementation of the business incubator on Annie Glidden Road, we are able to start and help small businesses and worker co-ops grow within the county.
Locally owned small businesses make us the county we are. By purchasing local goods and services, the revenue stays in the county allowing business owners to reinvest locally. This practice creates a cycle of small businesses helping each other and allows them to thrive.
Summing it up, my top three budget priorities are public safety, social services, and economic development.
8. Are county agencies sufficiently financially accountable? If not, how would you work to improve the way funds are spent?
I support striving for sufficient staffing levels for all of our county departments. Also, I understand that sometimes board member thoughts on what is a sufficient staffing level could differ from the thoughts of certain staff or departments. It is extremely important to maintain employee morale and listen to the concerns of employees. With sufficient staffing levels, we will maintain accountability through direction from supervisors. For many years DeKalb County has received an award from the State of Illinois for financial accountability. For decades county departments have been fiscally accountable due to adequate staffing levels. Most mistakes have to do with an oversight from insufficient staffing levels. These mistakes often occur because work is not double checked. Therefore, I do not believe that we are in a place to spend additional tax dollars on an unsubstantiated audit but rather use the tax dollars on maintaining staffing levels that are already in place.