2025 Election Questionnaire: Steve Kapitan, DeKalb City Clerk

Name: Steve Kapitan

What office are you seeking? DeKalb City Clerk

What is your political party? Democrat

What is your current age? 71

Occupation and employer: File Maintenance Clerk for Jewel Foods in Sycamore

What offices, if any, have you previously held? DeKalb 3rd Ward Alderman (1995-2007)

DeKalb City Clerk (2009-2012)

City: DeKalb since 1980

Campaign Website: kapitanfordekalb.com

Education: BS in Economics from NIU

Community Involvement: DeKalb County Democratic Party, DeKalb League of Women Voters, Friends of the DeKalb Library, DeKalb Area Women’s Center. I have done volunteer work in the past for several other organizations.

Marital status/Immediate family: Not married, no children

Questions:

Why are you running for this office?

There are two reasons I am running for the office of City Clerk in DeKalb, which is an administrative position that takes minutes of the City Council meetings and oversees the public accessibility and preservation of important City documents. Firstly, my motivation to serve as City Clerk is to make amends for my mistakes during a time in which I faced a 40% cut in staffing in the Clerk’s office. Having served 12 years on the City Council before being elected City Clerk and serving in the full-time position from 2009 to 2012, I have the experience to perform the duties of the now part-time office. My first year as Clerk was in the depths of the “great recession” And my budget was cut by 5.7% from the previous year. But with the same staffing level the Clerk’s Office came in 13.5% below the previous year’s budget, largely because I maintained a part-time job (12 hours per week) that offered health insurance. My biggest mistake as Clerk was to try and continue the part-time job the next year when my full-time Deputy Clerk position was eliminated, leaving only me and my part-time Deputy to run the office.

My second reason for running for City Clerk is to restore respect for the office and see it returned to a fairly paid position. Over the last 13 years the City made the office a part-time position, distributed many of the duties to other departments and reduced the salary to a fraction of the minimum wage (from which elected officials are exempt.) As a result, the City went through 8 Clerks in 13 years. After my resignation in 2012 the City tried to get the voters to make the Clerk an appointed position. The voters, by more than 2 to 1, chose to keep it an elected office. And last year, the City put the question on the November ballot again, with the same result. But the City, disrespecting the voters, doubled down and zeroed out the salary which, by state law, is locked in for the four-year term (2025-2029). Because I am retiring from my current job in June I will have the time to devote to this office with zero salary and the retirement income to live on.

What is the duty of the DeKalb City Clerk? How do you plan to execute these duties to the best of your ability if elected?

The DeKalb City Clerk is an administrative position that takes minutes of the City Council meetings and oversees the public accessibility and preservation of important City documents. Having served 12 years on the City Council before being elected City Clerk and serving in the full-time position from 2009 to 2012, I have the experience to perform the duties of the now part-time office. My first year as Clerk was in the depths of the “great recession” And my budget was cut by 5.7% from the previous year. But with the same staffing level I came in 13.5% below the previous year’s budget, largely because I maintained a part-time job (12 hours per week) that offered health insurance. My biggest mistake as Clerk was to try and continue the part-time job the next year when my full-time Deputy Clerk position was eliminated, leaving only me and my part-time Deputy to run the office. I have learned from that mistake.

Also, for the past 8 years I have held the position of File Maintenance Clerk at the Sycamore Jewel Store where I coordinate twice weekly price changes, fix errors in the computer batches and maintain the everchanging addresses of all the products on the shelves. These skills would transfer well to the Clerk’s duties.

The DeKalb City Council in 2024 got rid of the part-time $8,000 annual salary for the DeKalb City Clerk’s Office. If elected, as it stands now, the work you do will be unpaid. Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

By state law, the zero salary is locked in for the next four years. But the City should set future Clerks' salaries at a competitive level in order to attract good candidates in the election four years from now.

The DeKalb City Clerk’s Office has been at the center of controversy for a number of years related to the duties of the office, who performs them, attendance and legal disputes. Most recently in early 2024, the sitting clerk was ousted from his office by a DeKalb County judge. The City of DeKalb has not filled the role since, instead allocating the duties to a city staffer, citing a need for more consistent and reliable performance of duty. Do you agree with this decision? Why or why not?

With a zero salary for an administrative position, such as the City Clerk, it is especially important for the voters and the press to scrutinize the motives and any conflict of interest that the candidates may have. The City should have tried to find a qualified interim Clerk for the past year. But maybe they couldn’t because of the low $8,000 elected Clerk salary.

I sympathize with the City in having to deal with the high turnover in which the has seen 8 Clerks come and go over the last 13 years. But that is the direct result of the City choosing to pay the equivalent of below minimum wage for those years.

In 2012 the City chose to set the pay for the next four-year term at $4,000 per year if the voters rejected the City’s efforts to make the Clerk an appointed position. 70% of voters chose to reject the City’s proposal and keep it an elected office. Then last year the City chose to zero out the salary if the voters turned down the City’s referendum last November to make the Clerk an appointed position. And by a 2 to 1 margin the voters once again said no. Instead of fixing the problem by raising the pay to a competitive level the City has disrespected the voters by zeroing out the salary.

If elected, how would you work with existing city staff and fellow elected officials toward an efficient, professional and productive clerk’s office?

When I was the full-time City Clerk (2009-2012) I maintained a professional and respectful atmosphere within the Clerk’s office. I did the same with the staff and elected officials. If elected I would work closely with Executive Assistant Ruth Scott. The City’s Municipal Code designates the Executive Assistant as having authority to carry out many of the Clerk duties. I expect that she and I would have to coordinate our schedules and the tasks we are each responsible for in order to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. Ruth has done an excellent job of managing the problems associated with the high turnover of City Clerks. I would also be responsive to the needs of the Mayor, City Council members, City Manager and the Department heads especially with regard to Council meetings and the minutes of those meetings.

DeKalb voters in November voted down a referendum which asked if they supported changing the office from an elected to an appointed clerk. Do you agree with the voters? Why or why not?

Yes. Over the last 13 years the City made the office a part-time position, distributed many of the duties to other departments and reduced the salary to a fraction of the minimum wage (from which elected officials are exempt.) As a result, the City went through 8 Clerks in 13 years. After my resignation in 2012 the City tried to get the voters to make the Clerk an appointed position. The voters, by more than 2 to 1, chose to keep it an elected office. And last year, the City put the question on the November ballot again, with the same result. But the City, disrespecting the voters, doubled down and zeroed out the salary which, by state law, is locked in for the four-year term (2025-2029).