Jeff Wachowski, Morris City Council 2023 Primary Election Questionnaire

Full Name: Jeff Wachowski

What Office are you seeking? Alderman 3rd Ward

What offices, if any have you previously held? 3rd Ward for 4 years and Planning Commission and Zoning for the last 4 years.

City: Morris

Occupation: Highway maintainer, IDOT seasonal snowbird

Education: High School, some courses at JJC

Political Affiliation: Republican

Campaign Website: N/A

Why do you want to be on the Morris City Council?

I have a passion for being involved to be involved with making Morris and the 3rd Ward a great place to raise a family.

What experience do you offer residents that can help improve Morris?

30 years of management to offer, four years as an Alderman, and 35 years of volunteering in different organizations throughout the community.

If you think residents don’t pay enough in taxes what should be increased and what should the city do with the extra revenue?

Morris has a great tax base, schools are our biggest line item.

The current administration has focused on growing the downtown area and improving the park districts. Is this a good use of government funds, and if elected would you continue to focus on the downtown area? How so?

We have been doing a great job of promoting Morris’s downtown area and I support that totally. As far as the park district, I personally take great interest in improving all of our parks and fully support working on seeing these as a top priority if elected.

Morris recently has seen development companies wanting to build affordable rental communities. What impact do you think large development companies would have on the city and do you see it as a net gain or loss?

Not a big fan of low-cost housing we have enough. What we need is affordable housing to own.

Morris has seen an increase in both violent crime and drug activity within the last year, what actions can be taken to support local residents and prevent these crimes from happening?

Neighborhood watch groups support local law enforcement by giving them the right tools and resources to fight activity.

The city continues to develop and the Chicago metro area’s expansion continues to creep toward Morris. Do you think this will be good or bad for the city? What actions should be taken to encourage growth or slow it down?

The city should grow at a pace we can control slowly.

Morris experienced an industrial fire in 2021, that prompted the evacuation of more than 3,000 residents and resulted in a multimillion-dollar cleanup. What did the administration handle correctly during that time and what do you think was mishandled? Moving forward, what steps can the city council take to prevent something like this from happening again?

The city of Morris administration handled the fire in a very respectful way along with other organizations involved. In the future better policing of warehouse operation, in city limits by city inspectors and fire marshalls.

Do you support government transparency and what are your thoughts on the Freedom of Information Act?

I believe in checks and balances.