Development near I-90 interchange central to Marengo mayoral race

Now that Marengo boasts the first and only Interstate 90 interchange in all of McHenry County, two candidates vying to be mayor disagree on how the city should pursue future development.

Local businessman James Regelin said Marengo Mayor John Koziol has not been aggressive enough in pursuing new developments and, instead, has taken credit for the accomplishments set in motion by previous administrations while Koziol defended his record and said there’s more he wants to accomplish.

“We need a mayor that’s going to take more of an active role and not just a neutral, administrative role,” Regelin said. “If the town was doing fine and just needed to be maintained, [Koziol] would be a great guy for that, but I feel that there’s too much pressure.”

Koziol first ran for mayor in spring 2017 because he was displeased with the rate of business development in Marengo and felt he could do better, which he said he thinks he has.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some setbacks, he said, but it was under his leadership that the City Council passed a police pension funding policy to address its “pension crisis,” as well as a 2018 sidewalk and parking lot improvement plan that the city found grant funding for last fall.

The city also hired an economic development consultant and a lobbyist to represent the town’s interests down in Springfield, resulting in approval of assistance with three big-ticket requests to improve waste water treatment in the town and to bring water and waste water services to the new I-90 corridor, Koziol said.

Still, Regelin said a lot of residents that he speaks with aren’t happy and feel more is in store for Marengo’s future, which prompted him to challenge Koziol for the office.

“The biggest issue facing Marengo residents is the fact that most of our tax revenue comes from property owners as we don’t have enough business or retail tax or industrial revenue to offset any changes we want to make or anything that breaks that we have to replace,” Regelin said.

With its access to I-90 and its location halfway between Rockford and O’Hare International Airport, Regelin said he thinks Marengo should be an attractive destination for investors. It just needs someone to market the town more effectively, he said.

Regelin is a local business owner, having founded a limousine and charter van service called Redline Livery, he said. Through this work, he built up strong negotiating skills and formed longstanding relationships with many Marengo businesses keeping him in tune with their desires for the future, he said.

In addition to his professional background, Regelin grew up in town, was formerly an alderman and founded Marengo’s soup kitchen, Stone Soup, he said.

Koziol formerly served as a Cary police officer as well as a McHenry County sheriff’s deputy, he said. In addition to his work as mayor, he is the manager and co-owner of ShadowView Brewing in Woodstock, which he owns with his brother, Mark.

If reelected, Koziol said he would focus much of his energy on attracting new development to the area immediately surrounding the I-90 interchange, which he said would allow for business expansion and tax revenue growth, while still leaving a “buffer zone” for those who chose to settle in Marengo for its rural atmosphere.

“We can have that distanced off where we grow,” Koziol said. “Hopefully Marengo becomes a premiere industrial, maybe manufacturing or business community, but then you go maybe eight miles north and we’re back in the nice, small community feel. I never want to lose that.”

Regelin said he would like to bring a hospital or medical facility to the area around the interchange. He said it will be important to avoid rubber stamping projects that discourage development around them.

“I’m not afraid of being disliked for making the right decisions,” he said. “There’s a lot of short-term decisions that have been made that are very politically popular, but that’s what got us into this mess in the first place.”

Koziol said he would prioritize the establishment of a citywide water filtration system to address the poor quality of Marengo’s water, which is high in iron. This would be a $1.7 million project, and he said the city has already secured funding to cover half of the cost.

Regelin said the problem is not the city’s well water, but the pipes the water passes through. He proposed replacing those pipes before any further improvements are made to Marengo’s roads so they don’t need to be dug up later in order to fix the pipes.

When it comes to how Marengo will recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Koziol said the mayor and City Council can best support that recovery by following the guidance established by experts and staying in communication with the county and state.

Regelin said he feels the city can take a more active approach to supporting residents and businesses.

We can “see what resources the city has available for financing some of those businesses that have to hold on a little bit longer,” he said.