Marvin Barnes running for Sycamore 3rd Ward as write-in candidate

SYCAMORE – A man familiar to regular attendees of Sycamore City Council meetings is looking for public support that could have him seated on the other side of the room later this year.

Marvin Barnes, 72, is running as a write-in candidate for Sycamore’s 3rd Ward in the April 1 consolidated election, according to the DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

Barnes told Shaw Local News Network that he decided to campaign to be a Sycamore 3rd Ward alderperson when he noticed 3rd Ward Alderperson Jeff Fischer did not opt to run for reelection.

Barnes said he thinks Fischer has done a “really good, nice job for Sycamore” and didn’t want to run against him had Fischer sought to retain his seat.

Barnes said that’s why he only got on the ballot as a write-in.

“When I saw in the paper that [Fischer] had decided not to run again, there was a vacancy, or nobody was running,” Barnes said. “I felt that somebody needs, from our ward, needs to run. So ... the only option is to run as a write-in.”

Fischer did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Barnes said he considers himself a fiscally responsible person. He said he’s also running to continue to steward the city, and to bring more industrial businesses back to Sycamore.

“The thing I hear most from people in our community, including myself, is our residential taxes, our home, house taxes are too high,” Barnes said. “The only way you offset that is to bring more industry.”

With no one running against him, Barnes is likely going to be elected to the Sycamore City Council. It won’t be his first foray into elected office, however.

Barnes spent time as a Sycamore School District 427 Board member and president, so he’s familiar with setting taxing policy.

District 427 has a substantially higher tax rate than the city of Sycamore, but Barnes believes the city still could help lessen the burden on Sycamore property taxpayers by bringing new industrial businesses to the city.

“When you bring an industry in, it doesn’t impact the school district at all,” Barnes said. “It actually brings jobs in, but people don’t have to live in Sycamore to work there, and [the businesses] pay property taxes.”

Barnes said he spent 40 years working as an employee for industrial businesses, including time as plant manager for Sycamore Containers. He said he thinks he’s the person who can help the city resurrect its industrial business sector.

“We have industrial parks, but we’re not bringing anybody in,” Barnes said.