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Full Name: Melissa Small
What office are you seeking? Commissioner
What is your political party? Bipartisan
What is your current age? 40
Occupation and Employer: Educational Support Staff at Marseilles Elementary School
What offices, if any, have you previously held? I am currently serving my fourth year as PTA President at MES. I am also Union President for our Educational Support Staff at MES. I am the Grant Coordinator for the Marseilles Recreation Board.
City: Marseilles
Campaign Website: N/A
Education: Business Management and Marketing- Columbia College
Community involvement: I am currently serving my fourth year as PTA President. I am Union President for our Educational Support Staff at MES. I am Grant Coordinator for the Marseilles Recreation Board, and I am also a board member on our Marseilles Fun Days Committee. I have previously volunteered with the Marseilles Athletic Club, Girl Scouts, and worked with our Chamber of Commerce and local Police Department closely to initiate community involved events.
Marital status/Immediate family: I have two wonderful children. My daughter Emma who is 11 and son Rayce who is 15.
Why are you running for office?
I am running for City Council to bring the voice of our residents alive and elevate our community. I believe our City needs councilmembers who have strong leadership skills, high integrity, and who are truly invested in the wellbeing of our community.
What makes you qualified for the office you’re seeking?
I am very passionate about our community and have been involved in collaborations with many of our local organizations and businesses successfully over the years. My experiences have centered around implementing solutions for challenging situations. Working with so many diverse groups of people has helped me understand what issues our city needs to address to grow to its full potential. In both my public and professional lives, I have been a positive, decisive, innovative, gracious leader who understands the importance of teamwork to achieve goals for our city.
What is your position on the Illinois weapons ban that took effect in January 2023?
Over the years, the conversation about gun issues has only gotten sharper and more partisan. Although I advocate for gun safety awareness and training, I am also supportive of the Second Ammendment. Implementing stricter laws that can be viewed as infringement to law abiding citizens who legally obtain their firearms should not be the focus. The system is broken but we need proper solutions to ensure that guns don’t get into the hands of criminals and citizens with mental illness. We need to implement a streamline legislation that properly addresses consequences for criminals participating in gun related crimes, while preserving the rights of our citizens who legally obtain and adhere to proper gun safety.
Is crime a problem in your community and, if so, what would you do to curb it?
Crime is a community problem, therefore requires a community solution. Our community needs to make public safety a priority and support our officers. To curb crime, we need to address underlying problems that ultimately lead to the issues. I support a strong support safety model for our local police department and solutions to allocate proper funding to help elevate our department back to levels needed to ensure proper safety for our community. For example, many communities are installing Flock Safety cameras which empowers security resources by integrating with local law enforcement. It is imperative that we strive to make sure that our law enforcement personnel have state of the art equipment, proper education and training, along with appropriate social and emotional services to support and protect our residents.
What is your assessment of how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled locally?
The Covid-19 pandemic introduced a lot of challenges to our local government. Our local government was responsible for key pandemic response activities, particularly the risks and coordination with civil society organizations. I think locally, our community offered many resources to our residents to try and ease the burdens faced during that time. They adhered to the constantly changing regulations and kept our community well informed on information during that time.
What did you learn from the pandemic?
The importance of community. I saw our community come together during a time of many unknowns. I saw organizations, restaurants, business owners, and residents come together to help each other out during a time we were in a crisis. It definitely showcased the importance of sticking together and how impactful simple acts of kindness can be.
How would you spur economic development in your community?
For our community to flourish with long-term growth and economic success, we need to impose strategies that include management capacity building. We need to support our business community by streamlining processes for them to obtain required licenses and permits and provide an environment that develops and retains a skilled workforce. Filling vacant storefronts, providing technical assistance in business planning, and establishing tax incentives will appeal to potential investors and business owners. Having a vision and proper zoning planning standards established will set an example and expectation to attract and determine what future projects are the best fit for our community. Furthermore, looking to the future instead of staying in the past will elevate our communities potential for growth.
Would/can/should local governments do anything to help reduce the tax burden on residents?
It is imperative for our local government to reassess revenue streams, identify potential operations and maintenance gaps, and prioritize local funding solutions that strengthen financial stability and equity. Diversifying revenue sources is a key strategy for building a resilient budget for our city. Coming up with new and creative revenue strategies will help reduce reliance on local property tax.
Do you support recreational marijuana being sold in your community to help lower residents’ tax burden?
Whether or not you agree with the premise of allowing the legal sales of cannabis, there is now strong evidence that shows the positive economic impact its sales produces for the communities that allow it. Our state saw $1.5 billion in sales in 2022 which produced $146.2 in tax disbursements to local governments. Along with job creation, the sales tax collected would boost our local economy and create a revenue stream which would ease tax burden to our residents.
What projects or infrastructure would you look to address in your community and how would you do it?
The aging infrastructure in Marseilles which includes our roads and water system is in need of improvements. Our city will have to identify a solid strategy in having a revenue source that will address the cost of these repairs or replacements. I think it is important for our council to identify the needs of our community and what projects will be most beneficial financially and in purpose within our community.
Will you accept the voters’ decision in your race on Election Day?
Yes, I trust our electoral process!
What is your position on open, transparent government?
Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing. Proactive communication with citizens is paramount in boosting public trust from our constituents. A good just government keeps the best interests of its citizens in the forefront of its efforts and is open and transparent in the process of serving them.
Do you support the Freedom of Information Act and citizens’ ability to freely access government records?
Absolutely! “Knowledge is Power”. It’s purpose is to ensure an informed citizenry and hold officials accountable and improves transparency. Our community has a right to know information, and it is our duty to disclose it.
Would you sign a nondisclosure agreement with a prospective company that would limit your ability to communicate with your community?
No I would not. Trust and integrity are intertwined, you can’t have one without the other. The citizens who fund these deals and feel the effects in their local communities deserve to know how their elected officials want to spend their money. If a company wants to “demand silence” from their potential benefactors, taxpayers have a good reason to wonder whom their representatives truly serve.