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Name:
John “Doc’” Lavieri
What office are you seeking?
Alderman of 3rd Ward of City of La Salle, Illinois
What is your political party?
Nonpartisan
What is your current age?
73
Occupation and employer:
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, self employed
What offices, if any, have you previously held?
Incumbent alderman
Liaison to La Salle Parks and Recreation Board
Liaison to La Salle Library Board
La Salle Rotary Club representative on new ( Roatary Park) acquisition and development committee
City of La Salle representative on La Salle County landfill committee-early 1990s
City:
City of La Salle- 3rd ward
Campaign Website:
No
Education:
High school diploma- Notre Dame H.S.-Niles, I’ll
Purdue Unversity B.S.- West Lafayette, IN
Loyola University of Chicago M.S.
Loyola University-Chicago College of Dental Surgery D.D.S.- Maywood, I’ll
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Certificate- Loyola Univerity Medical Center- Maywood, IL
Community Involvement:
Rotary Club of Salle since 1985- 2 time president
La Salle Business Association- former board member- 6th business to join
Better Fishing Association of Northern Illinois- board member
Illinois and Michigan Canal Volunteers- last president
Save Our Little Vermilion Environment-last treasurer
Illinois Cancer Society- IV chapter- former board member
Marital status/Immediate family:
Single
One child-daughter- Speech Languade Pathologist- Savannah, GA
Questions:
What do you believe is the greatest issue facing the city of La Salle at this time and how do you plan to address it?
Like most cities, it’s infrastructure and financing maintenance. We’re well aware what’s needed but cost and often grants available dictate the priorities. La Salle residents for the most part are low income, so available local tax revenue doesn’t come close to covering even what many consider necessities. The council sets the “tone” and approves the “big” decisions.
We have excellent city staff and employees looking for grants and less expensive ways to improve our infrastructure. We just approved almost $15 million to upgrade water system and southwest (River St.} waste water plant. It makes me “choke” in a city of 9600 residents but water and sewer are a basic function of city government. I’m worried that with state and federal debts that soon most grants could “dry up”. For the past 16 years the city has made great progress toward reducing our municipal debt
La Salle is an old Canal Commission town. We were innovative when Mayor Mathiesson personally financed downtown water and sewer about 140 years ago. Now we are undergoing wastewater (sewage) and storm water separation.
That is so we don’t have to treat cleaner storm water mixed waste water at our 2 wastewater plants. This also keeps sewage overflows from going into our waterways. All municipalities have these issues which need to be dealt with responsibly.
How would you attract new business to La Salle?
That’s difficult. We can only set the tone and assist as much as possible to welcome owners. It’s individual decisions by entrepreneurs to risk their capital in La Salle. We have also tried several regional and national programs to attract interest in La Salle. We still suffer from some arrogant “near sightedness” from 60 years ago.
It’s easy to say we’re going to attract car dealers to La Salle. Well, we have a used car dealer locate in La Salle in past couple years but recently the Stellantis/ Toyota dealership announced that they were leaving the area.
We have financed a hotel/motel study, upgrade it and aggressively sought lodging at our two I-80 interchanges with no results yet.
We had an auto service plaza start pre pre-construction, only to go through an acquisition and project canceled. A prime piece of real estate is now tied up.
We just need to be ready and prepare to take of the opportunity. This happened also 16 years ago, when we hired the city’s first economic director. Prior to that time it was a part time duty of the mayor.
What ideas do you have to grow La Salle? How should the city look at expansion?
All municipalities are looking for growth. You don’t want to spend time and money on projects that never happen. A project, no matter how good it sounds, has to be a net positive. We need to scrutinize what seem like small details. You have to be open to new ideas and what seems to be “outside the box”. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. Even old ideas can be resurrected to new life under different circumstances.
How can La Salle work with local businesses to provide a strong relationship between the city and business community?
As far as I know we work with small businesses well.But we need to treat all equally. We have facade (RIP) grant program to help with building appearance upgrades. We have 2 new grant and tax incentive programs for “river cities” originally only Rockford, Aurora, Elgin, Peoria and East St. Louis qualified. The state loosened the requirements and our city staff worked hard to get the state to approve La Salle as a qualifying river city. We also have 7 remaining TIFs that rebate a percentage of property taxes to developers. Enterprise zones also offer tax incentives.
We need to guard against residential areas believing only businesses get assistance.
Increasing the tax base helps everyone.
Constituents, city staff and elected officials often have differing opinions and political leanings. How would you balance your personal ideology if your constituency, staff and elected officials differ from your personal beliefs
It’s rule of the majority on the council. The power of persuasion and 1 of 8 is the only vote I have. The current council maintains civility even in disagreements. The next issue, a former opponent can be on your side. I’m proud to say that on the current council, we do not have factions or voting blocks.
You must conclude what is best for La Salle. You also need to be eopen to changing your mind after further information and/or thought. It’s difficult not to be at slightly prejudiced by personal believes. It’s important to be cognizant of that inclination. You also can’t sacrifice personal beliefs and integrity.
How would you address the need for affordable housing?
Housing is expensive. The cost of new construction and rehabilitation has risen dramatically since COVID. People have come to expect more living space than not too long ago. I think people need to accept smaller footprints like existed 60-70 years ago. There is not enough revenue for government to subsidize everything. Also some regulations add costs to obtain little or modest increase in safety. An example is to repair a two faucet water fixture. You must according to code replace with a mixing faucet to prevent burns. People should have common sense to not scald themselves. If you have young children, lower the water temperature for a few years.
Should local law enforcement cooperate with ICE to identify and deport immigrants who do not have legal status to be in the United States?
Definitely, illegal is illegal. All law enforcement agencies need to cooperate. We’re at the point where many cities protect criminals at the expense of citizens and legal residents. The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over immigration. We are a Constitution based society, so that everyone is treated equally and fairly under the law.
How do you intend to balance economic development with environmental sustainability in the community?
As the question alludes. It’s a balance. I consider myself an environmentalist.
Everyone wants clean air and water. I’ve seen drastic improvements in my lifetime. However, we’re at the point where small incremental improvements are very expensive. We share, the air worldwide. Not much sense, striving for cleaner air nationally and locally, when China and India are still building many dirty coal fired plants per year.
We’re stuck with the regulations good and bad. The EPA sets the minimum standards, but if Illinois has more stringent standards, it’s difficult to compete with other states in some industries.
Just the other day the the city inspected the drain system in the building where my business is located. That was an environmental safety check with minimal intrusion. It does cost some local tax dollars to do the inspection that was negative for violation.
What are your plans for enhancing public transportation and infrastructure in the city?
I answered infrastruction in an early question.
Public transportation is difficult in a rural area. NCAT and BPART seem to be functioning fairly well. As a La Salle county city we contribute to NCAT.
We have also been supportive of a Peoria to Chicago Amtrak route. That would offer 5 trains daily with a stop in La Salle or east Peru. Also a whistle stop (on demand) in North Utica. Also Uber and Lyft rideshare opportunities are slowly increasing the area. Stores have also increased delivery services since COVID. Too many people own private vehicles to have large funds for public transportation. Gone are the days when Westclox employees supported bus and streetcar systems.
What are your top public safety concerns for our community and how would you propose addressing them?
Difficult issue: a primary role of government is health and safety.
About half of the city budget is for active duty police and police pension fund.
We have an excellent police department for the size of the city. Mutual aid with other cities, counties, state and federal agencies is important and currently functions well.
We have an excellent fire department that keeps our home and business owners insurance premiums down. Neighboring fire departments respond to structure fires automatically. We also respond to their structure fires, automatically. Mutual box alarms may be activated for needed assistance from near and far. We’ve been striving toward all fire fighters and paramedics being cross trained.
Ambulance service is always a struggle and we’re always striving for improvement.
Staffing for police, fire and ambulance is difficult in our area. Almost all communities have same problem.
We instituted IVRD several years ago. A regional dispatch center that has saved considerable expenses for the cities involved.
We also created a secondary pension to hire and retain police officers that have maximized municipal pensions.
Heath care is an extensive subject. . Suffice it to say, though we may not be happy with the local situation, we are better off than many rural areas and have little ability to influence.
How will you ensure that city policies promote inclusion for all residents?
Impossible to ensure but we try to promote among residents. Everyone is equal under the law. All residents aren’t included for all programs. For instance some are for low income or owner occupied residences only. We try to promote among residents in each eligible category. For instance, currently, we have obtained a $650,00 grant towards rehabilitation of low income owner occupied properties anywhere in the city corporate limits not just certain neighborhoods.
Do you support requiring government officials to publicly disclose potential conflicts of interest, and how would you enforce this?
This is already state law.
All public officials must file a form with the La Salle County Clerk yearly
This includes volunteers on committees and boards such as Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and other boards.
Personally, I have 25% interest in Vermilionvue subdivision. I note that on the form to the county. It’s in TIF IV.
At the council level, I abstain from voting on anything involving TIF IV, I or the mayor notes the reason why verbally in open meeting.
I also abstain from voting on $1 for raffle licenses if I’m on an organization governing board.That’s the extreme but correct.
Other council members abstain if the have a conflict, such as issues involving their business, employment, ownership, etc.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
I still have a home landline telephone with voice mail.
I also converse with constituents that I meet in public or in the course of business.
I feel that though I represent the 3rd ward, we are a small city and represent everyone. Most issues are common and aren’t limited by geography. Other alders need support on their issues. We don’t just “rubber stamp” the mayor on issues. It’s also important not to be contrary just to be contrary. If a new person becomes mayor, I may agree less often but won’t be automatically, NEGATIVE. Every issue is different.