Two Dixon City Council members will run for reelection in April

DIXON – As voters gear up for November’s general election, potential candidates are making their decisions about whether to run in next April’s consolidated election to fill city government seats.

Dixon residents will be heading to the polls April 1 to fill two seats on the Dixon City Council for the next four years.

The two seats that will be decided are now occupied by council members Chris Bishop and Dennis Considine, whose terms end April 30. Bishop and Considine told Shaw Local that they both plan on running for reelection.

Chris Bishop

Bishop, who was born and raised in Dixon, graduated from Dixon High School and went on to further his education, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. For more than a decade, Bishop remained in the education world as a teacher in Dixon Public Schools and a wrestling coach at the high school, according to ballotpedia.org.

Bishop’s first experience in government was in 2015, when he was elected to serve a two-year term on the City Council. He didn’t run for the council again until 2021, when he was elected to his current four-year term. In March, he ran as a Republican in the Illinois State Senate District 37 primary but lost to former Dixon Mayor Li Arellano.

Overall, his experience on the council has “been very positive. I mean, we’ve had a lot of change,” Bishop said in an interview with Shaw Local.

During his first term in 2015, the city had just changed its form of government from commissioner to city manager.

After Dixon’s former Comptroller and Treasurer Rita Crundwell was convicted of what is believed to be the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history, community members voted for the change to prevent another scandal from occurring. That year, the city brought in a professional administrative team and restructured many policies, from auditing and financial duties to department heads and transparency practices.

“That all started, and not everybody was sure what that was supposed to look like. I mean, there is a framework that the state gives you and such, but actually putting that into play was quite an interesting view,” Bishop said.

On top of that, the community elected an entirely new council, he said.

“There’s a learning curve of transitioning government, and then there’s another learning curve of everybody that’s in this is new,” Bishop said.

It took some time for everyone to get used to all the change, but by 2021 – when Bishop was elected to his second term – things had settled in, and the focus was on development.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be involved in some things that are really great, and seeing the city continue to grow and push,” Bishop said.

After years of work, several projects are becoming a reality. One is the Gateway project that has been bringing in several new businesses along South Galena Avenue in the Interstate 88 corridor. Another major project has been riverfront development, which has constructed several miles of multi-use pathway along the Rock River and will extend those paths with a pedestrian bridge over the river.

Running for another term, development continues to be Bishop’s biggest focus.

He wants to make sure the city’s current projects move forward while continuing to attract people and businesses to Dixon. At the same time, he wants to “maintain the level where we’re at with the businesses and folks that are here” and make sure the city is providing them the services they need, Bishop said.

The other thing Bishop would be focused on is “leadership, as far as that goes, especially with the city administrators,” he said.

Bishop said that he thinks, during the next four years there will be some administrators who are retiring.

“Nobody’s put in anything, but my guess is they are,” he said.

For those people who are already familiar with all the ins and outs of the city, finding an adequate replacement and making sure that the transition is as smooth as possible is important, he said.

Dennis Considine

For Considine, the end of his term will mark 14 years of his involvement in Dixon’s government. He was first elected, before the transition of government, as commissioner of public health and safety.

Working closely with Dixon’s building, police and fire departments, “it was a completely different world for me,” Considine said. “I really enjoyed that a lot.”

Before being elected, he’d spent about 20 years in the department store business and another 20 years in the professional hair business. So when his neighbor came across the street one day and told him that he should run for City Council, Considine recalled saying, “Are you out of your mind?”

But the world of politics wasn’t completely out of his wheelhouse. He comes from a long line of politicians, he said, and his father, Hubert Dennis Considine, was one of the youngest men elected to the Illinois House of Representatives.

So, the next morning, Considine went to the city clerk’s office to pick up a candidate packet and, for the most part, has been involved in city government ever since.

After Crundwell was convicted, Considine said it was “a big learning curve,” and the transition to a city manager form of government “turned out to be a wonderful thing for the city,” he said, adding that “there’s more oversight, in my opinion. ... We’re very prosperous, we’re financially stable, and we have a great community.”

For over a decade, he’s served on the council because “I enjoy it, and I still believe that every single citizen in our community is important,” Considine said.

Running for another term in 2025, Considine spoke of his desire to see the city complete its two major projects – the riverfront development and the Gateway project – and wanting to continue the work he’s been doing alongside council member Mary Oros to find a solution to Dixon’s housing shortage.

“We have blighted properties all over the city, not just in one quadrant,” he said.

The two of them have been taking notes about successful housing projects in Rockford, and working with landlords and tenants to try to come up with a way to help those who can’t afford to fix their houses.

“My main hope is that we can come to some program to help our housing,” he said. “Because, like every city, we’re short of housing, and we shouldn’t just tear down houses, we should try to revitalize them.”

Beyond that, Considine said he wants to see the city continue to have “very strong financial stability” and make sure they’re “very conscious about where the taxpayer money goes.”

He continues to be a strong supporter of Dixon’s public safety services – pointing out its police and fire departments as “the best services in the state” – and Dixon’s many theater groups and other arts and culture organizations.

Considine also said the city has a strong working relationship with the other government agencies and community groups, citing the Lee County Board and Dixon Park District as some examples.

Going forward, he would like to continue those relationships and create some way to “encourage people to get involved in volunteerism as well as in committees.”

A push for community involvement

“I hope that three or four people take out petitions,” Considine said. “The citizens need a choice.”

Dixon’s government is nonpartisan, meaning candidates are not associated with a political party.

“You have to be a citizen of the city, for the citizens of the city,” Considine said.

Those who wish to run for office are advised to review Illinois’ “2025 Candidate’s Guide” and Dixon’s candidate packet, which is available at the city clerk’s office, 121 W. Second St., or can be found online at dixongov.com. The packet contains the forms that must be included in the nomination petition as well as information about fair campaign practices from the Illinois Board of Elections and explanations of different forms of municipal government from the Illinois Municipal League.

To run for a council seat, candidates must file their papers at the city clerk’s office, 121 W. Second St., during business hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 21 through Oct. 28. Candidates must turn in a notarized petition with signatures endorsing the candidate, a statement of candidacy and a receipt as proof of filing a statement of economic interest with the Lee County Clerk’s Office for the position of council member, according to a news release.

The signatures should be from residents who are qualified to vote in Dixon and are in support of placing the name of the candidate on the ballot. The number of signatures required – about 21 – is determined by Illinois election law that states the amount must be equal to at least 1% of the total votes cast for mayor at the last mayoral election in the municipality, according to the release. The total ballots cast for mayor in 2023 were 2,092, according to election results from Lee County.

The gathering of signatures can begin at any time, but they must be completed by the deadline for filing, which is 5 p.m. Oct. 28, according to the release.

If more than eight candidates file for the two council member positions, their names will be placed on the ballot for the consolidated primary election held Feb. 25. If there are less than eight, the names will be placed on the ballot for the consolidated election April 1, according to the release.

For further candidate information, visit the Illinois Board of Elections website at elections.il.gov.