Meet the La Salle City Council candidates

Seven candidates are running across four ward races on the La Salle City Council in the April 4 election. The First, Second and Fourth ward races are contested.

Shaw Local News Network sent an election questionnaire to all candidates. Here are their responses listed by ward in alphabetical order.

First Ward

Gary Hammers

No previously elected positions

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

I have been involved in the rehab of 16 properties in downtown La Salle. That is 30 years of making a difference. Through the work we have accomplished, I have gained knowledge and experience in order to push projects through to completion. I have helped and advised other entrepreneurs who have invested in downtown. I will continue the process until every vacant building is filled. I will propose to increase the façade grant, simplifying the application process and explore state and federal grants to complete our beautiful downtown. I will suggest to rotate blocks where downtown festivals are held so every business will see benefits instead of a select few.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

I do sympathize with both parties because I have been involved with a lot of rehabilitation of our city, but in every property we have fixed, we have set a completion date. In my opinion, the only way to make money is to finish the project, which will help our local economy and our tax revenue will increase. Our city leaders lack vision. They don’t have the foresight to see a project through to completion. We must hold investors accountable. I will personally meet with investors once a month to check progress and offer support in any way possible. I have been improving properties for 30 years and have never been approached or contacted by city council members regarding project completion. That needs to change!

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

The city should protect our citizens from criminals and chemicals. I have attended numerous city council meetings and the press conference the day of the fire. I think our city took the situation with the chemicals too lightly. I think the #1 goal of our city should be to protect our citizens, including our pets. I believe we should wait for all the tests to be completed then do the best we can to treat our neighbors with the utmost respect and make sure they are compensated for their losses.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

The number one priority is to empower citizens with more economic opportunity, as well as drive economic development in the city of La Salle. A lack of high paying jobs, as well as a lack of tax revenue that can be generated from large retailers, car dealerships, hotels and big box stores limits the ability to grow the City of La Salle in many ways. I will work to build infrastructure that encourages these large-scale businesses to invest in our city. La Salle has direct access to two major highways that could give way for businesses to generate money from people outside of our community. We would see that return in tax dollars, which would then be used to improve the lives of our citizens. Being elected as alderman of the first ward in La Salle is the first step in correcting the issues that are holding our city back.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

Personally, I think closing our hospital is one of the worst things that has happened to the Illinois Valley in years. I think we have great medical professionals in our area. We need to meet with a group of business & medical professionals who are interested in investing in our community and create a surgery center, emergency center and birthing center. Each of these facilities can sustain themselves without the overhead of a hospital. As alderman, I would create and invest in a group that can build or rehab locations that are sustainable.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

There are many facets to my life. If I could only answer with one, I would say, hardworking. I never stop. Sometimes I slow down, but NEVER STOP.

Bob Thompson

Incumbent, appointed in 2022.

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

I have always supported economic development in the City of La Salle and not just in our downtown corridor. I have the opportunity to travel and always talk about my home town and what wonderful things are happening and will happen in the future. I recommend to those I talk to that they should come and check out our blooming downtown and talk to Curt Bedei, our economic development director, about available locations throughout our city. The City Council approved unanimously the hiring of Curt to do just this job. I will give him the support he needs to continue to move us forward.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

As an appointed alderman with only several months of experience, this has been one of the harder situations I’ve been involved in. On one hand, CL enterprises has had many years to prove to the citizens of the city that they are being a good partner for the development of these properties with many of the people I’ve spoken too feeling that they have not been. On the other hand, they currently are in the best position to make something happen that will benefit both their company and the city. The council recently voted unanimously to allow them to keep moving forward with the “brewpub” and signed an agreement with them that holds them to a timeline for just that. Moving forward in a positive productive way.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

I think the City Departments did the job they needed to do at the time of the catastrophe. They did it without injury or loss of life in a very dangerous and harrowing situation. God bless and protect them all. We all realize that mistakes were made and that we could have done better and the city is making or has already made changes to prevent those from happening again. The one thing I have learned, and am still learning at every meeting, is to listen to our citizens. I am glad that our meetings are open and that citizens are encouraged to speak. That’s what we’re here for, to listen, represent and act for everyone’s best interests.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

I don’t have one specific issue in mind, however, I’m a true believer in the broken windows theory. Our city needs to be on top of minor violations before they turn into major problems. Unsightly properties need to be taken care of swiftly and fairly. That includes both business and residential. Economic growth will occur when those that visit see a clean well kept city that is working efficiently. I strongly believe that our downtown development group does just that and should be commended and supported for their hard work.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

The loss of the hospital was devastating for our area for many reasons. The loss of jobs, maternity unit and local emergency rooms to name a few. In my opinion this issue is above what a city alderman of La Salle can do anything about other than, like any other citizen, reach out to our elected state officials and ask why it happened and what they are doing.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

In one way or another I’ve been serving our country since 1975. I try to shoot straight and say what I mean and accept my short comings as a human. I hope the citizens in the first ward of La Salle choose to elect me as their alderman.

Second Ward

Amy Luth

Previously elected to the La Salle elementary district #122 school board from 2017-2019

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

Continue to focus on attracting businesses and talent among our local entrepreneurs, involve our youth with a mentoring program to guide our future innovators through the entrepreneurial ecosystem within our community, invest in creative infrastructure making our community even more attractive for our residents and businesses.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

In light of the project’s avoidance of using city funds or an increase in our taxes, I believe the agreement was favorable.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

Our city officials released information, including updates via social media and press conferences based on data they received from Carus, EPA and Illinois DNR. In my opinion, chemical fires are not our city officials expertise and they proceeded accordingly. However, clear and detailed answers need to be addressed immediately by the proper agencies.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

As indicated in the last question, the Carus chemical fire exposure is a significant concern.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

Unfortunately, this issue is tough. Healthcare economics and demographics are becoming an epidemic in rural communities. Our city should continue to encourage our surrounding communities to keep contacting our state representatives to push for a resolve to prevent this from possibly repeating at St. Margaret’s in Spring Valley.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

I have dedicated raising my six unique children to be respectable members of our community. That being said, I lead by example. I have 15 years of experience volunteering within our school district 122 as Vice President of the PTA, Junior Achievement, as well as several other educational committees, including a proud member of our school board for two years. Some may know me as (insert my child’s name here) Mom, the woman who always wears a bandanna in her hair, or my given name, Amy Luth! I am a positive, open-minded, cheerful person with a knack for listening to what people want and gathering trusted feedback to deliver the greatest possible result. Our community should always keep in mind that “real change comes from everyday people.”

Jerry Reynolds

Incumbent, elected for the past 10 years

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

It’s a team effort. It’s got to be everyone working together. However, our economic development director is constantly looking for money and grants to help us do some of the things we have on our schedule to do. We all work together as a team, we’re making some headway. I’ve been an alderman for 10 years and we’ve been making some headway on keeping the downtown with new stores and new businesses as one leaves, or for whatever reason. We do our best to fill that spot.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

CL enterprises and the Kaskaskia are presently working with the city as a group, of course. There have been some schedules with dates and time to complete various projects that were promised. We’re working together to keep them on target. I’m for progress, even though we haven’t had a lot of it recently.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

I don’t really believe we have all the information just yet. I’m not sure that the final on that is anywhere close. I think it’s going to take some time. I think if everyone would work with their insurance companies and their people there, the people who come out and give you estimates and causes and how to solve the causes, all that sort of stuff. The adjustors can make the decision as to value and things of that nature. I think everybody thinks that the fire came and there should’ve been answers the very next day. I’m not sure all the answers are there yet, so I’m kind of holding back on having any opinion on the fire until we get all the facts. We’re constantly looking for information not only from Carus, but from other independents who have been involved in this whole issue. We’ll just keep on working with Carus to see what’s going on and I think Carus will do their part.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

The city of La Salle is an old city. It’s hard to keep a lot of the properties up to speed in terms of keeping them looking halfway decent. We have a lot of people who are running outside businesses in their driveways, we have people who aren’t taking care of their property. This is something that reflects on the whole city. A large section of La Salle is old and it’s going to take a while for people to be able to update their properties and do the best they can to make them look nice. So, we’re doing the best we can to help people along and point them in the right direction to make sure they have all the options available to them in terms of support from the city.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

The fact is we don’t have hospital support right now. We have an area, just in La Salle and peru is 20,000 people, and not everyone is going to need a hospital at the same time. But we need to work with management and find out what exactly their long term plans are and what the immediate solution is for the present circumstances. But we do need a hospital, and we don’t have it at this point. All the other towns are offering their services, but it’s not always going to be convenient for someone to go 15-20 miles to a different hospital. My opinion is that we keep working with them and see if we can’t help get things to get up to where they should be and up to speed in offering their services as we’ve always had in this community.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

I’m probably the oldest member of the City Council, I’m one of eight who make the decisions. It’s not a one person with any agenda, we all work together. We don’t always agree. We have good counsel, we make decisions the best we can. As far as my position, I’ve got 10 years experience, plus other management skills, and I will continue to campaign for alderman in the city of La Salle for the next four years.

Third Ward

Joe Jeppson

Incumbent, elected in 2019

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

I would like to see more family friendly things to do in our community. It would be great to be able to take your family downtown to go see a movie or go bowling. I also feel like the downtown has a lot of potential for spaces to be filled newly dislocated health care professionals.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

I believe the city has taken a proactive approach with hopes these projects move forward in a timely fashion. Two keys to the success of these projects will be communication and adhering to the agreement both parties signed. I am hopeful the city and CL Enterprises can move forward in a positive way.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

The city’s emergency response was impressive to say the least. I also believe the most important role the city plays here is communication. Communicating facts from the experts to the citizens is an essential job of the city and the city did well in my opinion. After listening to hours of concerns, I think city listened and has improved it’s ability to reach its citizens quickly and efficiently.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

It’s tough to choose just one issue, but continuing EPA cleanup, recreation and tourism and improving infrastructure are at the top of my list.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

I would love to see the city welcome any and all medical practices to the downtown with open arms. These physicians and medical professionals need somewhere to go and downtown La Salle is a perfect place for their new home.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

I married Kelly Kalman in 2009 and we have three boys, Charlie, Oliver and Miles. I’ve been a Union Member and Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service for 18 years. We also have two dogs, a Cock-A-Poo named Bo and a Golden Retriever named Rosie.

Fourth Ward

James Cleary

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

I will engage with the city’s economic development director Curt Bedei to explore opportunities to continue the growth the City has been experiencing the past 25 years. As an alderman I will work to build relationships within our community – downtown business and otherwise - so we are all working together for its betterment.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

Large development projects such as the Kaskaskia Hotel and Maytag building are complex, especially with the many uncertainties resulting from the pandemic the past three years. I believe the City is doing its best to work with CL Enterprises to keep the projects moving forward. As an alderman I will expect developers of any new projects to provide comprehensive plans including evidence of financing and completion deadlines before issuing any permits; I will also explore the feasibility of requiring a performance bond to provide additional incentive to complete projects on time.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

Our first responders are to be commended for their preparedness and timely response in a challenging situation. The city remains in communication with Carus Chemical management as the fire is investigated by numerous state and federal agencies. The reviews are important to be certain we have an accurate understanding of what happened and what any potential health and environmental consequences may be. In the meantime, the city is being proactive in addressing concerns of residents. As a community, we can all be thankful no employees were injured or killed in the Jan. 11 fire.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

The city is consistently responsive to many important issues including development of the Kaskaskia and Maytag properties, the Carus fire, dealing with various unkempt properties in the community, and garbage collection concerns (which appear to be resolved with the new service). As an alderman, I will continue to push for continued cleanup of unsightly properties throughout the city.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

The closing of the hospital creates a crisis in our greater community. I would like to see the local mayors continue to meet with county, state and federal elected officials about healthcare options. Potential buyers of the Peru hospital should also be sought.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

As a retiree, I bring many years of management experience to the table, including working within a budget, and ample time to spend attending to city business.

Jordan Crane

Incumbent, elected in 2019

How will you promote economic development downtown La Salle?

I will continue to use TIF revenue to support growth. TIF funds provide the opportunity to improve infrastructure to support the growth as well as provide an incentive to businesses. I have also supported the city’s current Redevelopment incentive which provides assistance to many of our downtown businesses with building improvements. Strengthening our downtown district with more retail shops is a top priority as well as positioning the city to attract larger corporations with our proximity to I-80 and I-39. With this rapidly changing business environment, we must position ourselves to be ready for the next industry that will experience growth.

Do you support the way the city has handled the situation with CL Enterprises regarding the Brewpub, Kaskaskia projects? If yes, explain why. If not, explain what you would do differently.

The city provided an economic incentive to 801 First Street that was consistent with all other agreements that utilize the TIF incentive. We are hopeful that the most recent agreement moves the project forward in a timely manner. The agreement includes deadlines for the project which I fully supported.

The Kaskaskia project is a completely different animal due both its size and its current condition. The incentive the city is negotiating for this project is much greater based on the economic burden to renovate the building. Initially I was not thrilled that the project transitioned into a housing project. However, the plan is required to included first floor retail space which will help grow our downtown. The project also includes event space. I recognize this building is one of the largest focal points of our downtown and I will assist in any way possible to get this project moving forward. I believe the city has offered appropriate incentives attempting to speed up the process and I will also continue to support that effort.

How do you think the city has handled the Carus fire and its aftermath? Explain why you support the response or what you’d do differently.

I think Fire Chief Janick and his team of firemen assisted by many other emergency service personnel did an outstanding job responding to the fire. This was one of the largest fires in the city’s history and it was under control in a matter of hours. The most important measure of this fire was that nobody was injured or killed. That wasn’t just a matter of luck. That comes from knowledge which is acquired from both experience and training. Our fire department was obviously prepared for an event like this. That preparation extends to many other agencies that assist such as MABAS as well as our local dispatch center.

I also believe the city has done a great job facilitating communication between the residents and contributing agencies such as the EPA, IEPA and local Heath Departments. The city’s Community Development Director Brent Bader has gone above an beyond to help facilitate this communication process with these agencies and residents.

Many residents in the fourth ward have experienced property damage and have claims against Carus Chemical. I am hopeful that these claims will be fairly settled so residents are not financially impacted by the damages they sustained. This issue reflects the reasons why I seek another term serving as your representative on the La Salle City Council. I believe it to be my responsibility to communicate with these residents to fully understand their concerns and assist in the communications process. We are still learning about the affects of this event. I have been an advocate for further testing to help us learn more as well as address residents concerns about the damages they sustained.

What do you see as the most important city issue you’d like to address, if elected?

As a current council member, lifelong city resident and past public works employee, I see the most important issue as the city’s aging infrastructure. I have advocated for infrastructure improvement projects that update City water mains and city sewers. I have also advocated for road repair projects in the 4th ward. I believe in trained labor and more ongoing maintenance of our infrastructure utilizing our current labor force. We have the equipment, tools and labor. We just need to make this maintenance a higher priority.

Is there anything else you’d like to see the city do in response to the closure of St. Margaret’s Hospital in Peru?

Quality healthcare is a top priority of every La Salle resident. The impact of the loss of ER and OB services and the closure of the Peru location is devastating to the community. I will work with our emergency services to make sure they have the vehicles and equipment they need to safely treat and transport residents to facilities they can be cared for in times of critical needs. I will also support TIF incentives or facade grant incentives to assist local doctors seeking office space in La Salle.

What is one thing you want voters to know about you?

I want voters to know that I am their eyes and ears to local city government. I take this responsibility very seriously. I don’t have any agenda other than to listen and advocate for the residents of the fourth ward. I want our community to reach its full potential and be a great pace to live, work and raise a family. I hope to continue to assist in reaching those goals. I would like to thank the voters for putting their trust in me over the last four years and ask for their support over the next four years.