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Deb Warning, a candidate for Grundy County Board District 2 in the March primary election, answered these questions from the Shaw Local News Network.
Full Name: Deb Warning
What office are you seeking? Re-election to Grundy County Board, district 2
What public offices, if any, have you previously held? Grundy County Board member, Minooka High School District #111 board member
City: Minooka
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Campaign website:
In light of the increasing influx of migrants to Illinois, how do you propose the county should address the challenges?
As we have been doing in Grundy County, by NOT becoming a sanctuary county for illegal immigration. We’ve taken steps to protect our residents. We uphold the directives of our Grundy voters who indicated three years ago on the ballot referendum suggested by County Board Chairman Chris Balkema, to support ICE and not support sanctuary county status for illegals in Grundy County. Resources are limited. We have a responsibility to use finite tax dollars to serve our county residents.
What are the top issues facing your county and what would you like to do to address those issues?
Increase access to health services and mental health support/intervention, by exploring options to expand health department staffing and building usage. Dealing with unfunded state mandates and associated costs incurred by the county while maintaining fiscal sanity in budgeting and expenditures. We strive to provide well for our residents and our county staff.
Should counties do more to expand access to county government?
Grundy County has a great IT team, working to keep county government department information online with easy contact information. Additionally, our county board committee meetings and the monthly full board meetings are live-streamed, as well as archived, so remote viewing is available online. Many counties don’t have their meetings live nor recorded. Our budgets, agendas, minutes are also online on our website. We continually aim to increase transparency online and in county business. We have public comment opportunity at the beginning of every meeting. Comments can also be emailed, to be shared during public comments. I’d love to see and hear from more residents at each meeting! We’re glad for local radio partners WJDK/WCSJ and Shaw Media presence at our meetings, and their role in sharing accurate news to our residents and stakeholders.
What challenges is the region facing in terms of attracting business and tourism?
Illinois is a challenge, with a business-unfriendly reputation. Grundy County is seeing new businesses open, while maintaining current and long term businesses in the county. We welcome tourists, we have some great hotels in Minooka and Morris, close to businesses, downtown districts, restaurants and nightlife, I & M canal, towpaths, bike trails, antiques shops, historical museums, wedding venues, community theater and the arts, and much more! We support the Heritage Corridor group in their efforts to share great tourism activities and venues in Grundy County.
What would you push for as a member of county government to boost local businesses?
Spread the message… BUY LOCAL. EAT LOCAL. Support our Grundy county businesses, shops, salons, restaurants, dealerships, hospital, etc. We have one of the lowest sales tax rates in the State. That’s intentional, shop here! Keep your tax dollars local, helping our Grundy County schools, police and fire departments, library districts, villages and county services. I hope we each do our part to keep tax dollars in our community. Spending local ensures our local first responders and emergency services, schools, libraries, health department, and local governments can provide services more generously to our Grundy county families and residents, and may help avoid tax increases from our local taxing bodies.
Should government employees and officials be allowed to sign non-disclosure agreements with private businesses?
That hasn’t been an issue at the county level. County business and legal reviews we defer to our county States Attorney, Russ Baker.
Do you think there is a local crime problem? If so, what needs to be done about it?
Grundy County is a great place to live, work, visit. Our Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley and our county deputies, as well as local police departments do a great job serving and protecting, keeping streets safe and reducing crime. In Grundy County we “Respect the Blue” and support their good work! The poorly named “SafeT Act”, recently enacted in Springfield, is anything but safe, is spurious legislation and an unfunded mandate. We need reasonable legislation from Springfield that enables and supports law enforcement. State Senator Sue Rezin and State Representative Jed Davis are great advocates for us at the State level.
What local road and bridge projects should be a priority to get done in the county?
Our Grundy County Board just unanimously approved a lengthy list of important local road and bridge projects across the county, which our County Engineer Eric Gibson, his department and the highway committee reviewed, prioritized, and recommended. If we missed a priority road, let Eric know!
Do you support the Illinois gun ban? Why or why not?
I support the Constitution of the United States and the 2nd Amendment. Our county voters do also, as indicated by the referendum our Grundy County voters passed three years ago, supporting the 2nd Amendment.
What is your opinion of the role of tax incentives in economic development and business growth? Should tax incentives be offered to corporations to entice them to plant roots in local communities? Why or why not?
We have experienced incentives as critical to securing large corporations within our county. GEDC has been instrumental in facilitating economic development. Our County Administrator, Mary Kucharz, is also an attorney with significant experience and provides the county board with valuable advice for considerations as we work to attract valuable new development and business. Corporations who leave early or don’t fulfill their part of the incentives contract have penalties and clawback consequences, losing their incentives. Corporations coming here have been good neighbors, contributing to stable county economy, some very supportive of local communities and schools.
How would you classify the state of public health in your county? Do you believe access to affordable healthcare is an issue? Why or why not? If you believe it’s an issue, what ideas do you have to remedy it?
Grundy County is fortunate to have a great local hospital, urgent care clinics and medical and dental providers. Our Health Department Administrator Michelle Pruim leads our busy public health department in providing services to an ever increasing population. Our mental health services have increased, to help meet local access needs, and we’ve supported additional staffing to expand public health within the county, including some program outreach to schools. Additionally, collaboration between our county health department and Morris Hospital improves care and support and access to our residents. We are currently considering additional space for the health department and other departments critical to public health. We endeavor to do that without debt, a remarkable accomplishment for the county!