Election 2024: Jensen, Dose vie for La Salle County Board chairman

La Salle County voters will select a chairman for the La Salle County Board.

Incumbent Don Jensen, R-Deer Park, runs against board member Brian Dose, D-Ottawa, on Nov. 5. Candidates are listed alphabetically.

Brian Dose

Brian R. Dose, 48, is a firefighter/paramedic who has been elected four times to the La Salle County Board

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

Being a firefighter/paramedic, and having served on the board for 12 years in a variety of roles, including finance chairman, has led me to be bipartisan and pragmatic in my approach to county government. With a deep understanding of the county, I am running for board chairman because there needs to be county board leadership that provides and articulates a vision and is also accountable to the board and the taxpayers. Our 2023 financial audit findings show an internal lack of communication, control, and even worse, a lack of transparency. As board chairman, I intend to professionalize our financial services with the hiring of a finance director.

As board chairman, I will address the following: property taxes, streamlining and reducing County committees while adding night meetings, refocusing our efforts on mobile mental healthcare and substance abuse program coordination throughout the County, and economic development. The Ottawa TIF debates showed that we must create an economic development committee and work with business leaders and cities to aid their efforts to create jobs and wealth for our communities. Finally, I have a long record of supporting and voting for public safety and will continue to do so as board chairman.

What are your top goals if you are elected?

Property taxes: We as a board have been lowering the county tax rate for years but we still have significant problems with property taxes. Internal data from the County projects that our property tax problems may due to the lack of assessments or fair assessments. As board chairman, I will lead on this effort, foster communication through a county committee specifically for property taxes, and will work with board members in a bipartisan manner to find solutions.

Accountability and Communication: County board members run for office because they want to help their neighbors and have the difficult tasks of overseeing a $125 million enterprise. The board chairman position is one that leads the board but also should assist county board members in providing oversight and helping their district’s residents. From day one, my focus will be on helping not only board members but assisting taxpayers with county services, and avoiding national partisan politics.

Economic Development: La Salle County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. We cannot afford to be opposed to business development and must help cities as they compete against other regions. Economic growth creates wealth, jobs, and jobs give people purpose. Understanding tax incentives for business can be difficult, but I will work in a bipartisan manner to help our board members understand what they are voting on, thereby helping communities every way we can.

Don Jensen

Donald Jensen, 73, is a Republican retiree who has served as a precinct committeeman, Deer Park School board member and La Salle County Board chairman

Why are you the best candidate for the job?

Best candidate for the job? Depends on one’s perspective. I approach the chairman’s position as a watchdog for the citizens of La Salle County and as a team member along with the County Board, other elected officials and the employees of the County to make sure La Salle County’s residents are represented well and their taxes are wisely spent. While my time in office has not been without its hiccups, my goal has always been to bring a conservative approach to the office of board chairman. With a lifetime of experiences and a varied education, I’ve been able to handle the duties of the County board chairman’s office in a way that best represents the values of a majority of the people of La Salle County. There are no perfect candidates and I don’t pretend to be one. Mistakes are made in any endeavor but the important goal is to learn from them and move on to make things better leading towards success. If given the opportunity to serve for another four years and having learned from those mistakes and successes, I will endeavor to serve with that same set of values that will hopefully benefit the residents of La Salle County.

What are your top goals if elected?

My top goal is to minimize the tax load of the county upon its citizens. In the near future, there will be an opportunity to pay down our debt early with funds received from taxes and the sale of iFiber, an organization in which La Salle County was a contributing partner. These funds may be used to help pay down our bond debt as well as refinance our Insurance Trust which handles liability claims against the county. This will accomplish not having to issue more bonds to refinance the efforts of the Insurance Trust in their role for La Salle County and will save interest on the bond principal from this early payment.

Another item to address that has been ongoing the past few years is repair and maintenance of our buildings which have some age on them. We need to continue those repairs and maintenance to assure the integrity of our buildings and their long-term viability.

Working full-time since entering office, I’ve tried to look for different ways to improve how things are done by the Board. One approach I looked at was to consolidate some of our committees but that idea was not looked upon favorably. Perhaps another approach at it might gain favorable support the next time around. The goal is to have committees not last 15-30 minutes but rather last an average of between one and two hours. While the board office budget is a very small part of our overall budget, this would help streamline the Board’s operation.