Daily Chronicle editor Kelsey Rettke sat down with DeKalb County Board candidates running to represent District 10 (Cortland and DeKalb townships) District 11 (Afton, Clinton, Cortland, Pierce, Squaw Grove and South Grove townships) and District 12 (Sandwich and Somonauk townships). There are four candidates running to represent District 11, since one race is a two-year unexpired term seat.
Jeff Whelan, District 10, Republican
Jeff Whelan has lived in the city of DeKalb since 1963 and raised two children, although one of his daughter died last year. He’s been on the DeKalb County Board for nearly a decade now, he said, and is running to continue working with his district on economic development and relieving residents of continual tax burdens, he said.
He was first elected to serve District 9 (DeKalb) but moved to District 10 and heralded economic improvement on DeKalb’s South Side along Gurler Road, including the Facebook DeKalb Data Center and the distribution center for Ferrara Candy Company.
“I look forward to that,” he said. “I look forward to working with them. You don’t see a lot of industry on those.”
He said he believes the 2020 census could led to some redistricting and County Board representation changes.
“I feel just like what everyone else does on taxes,” Whelan said, citing DeKalb School District 428’s DeKalb High School referendums as one of the reasons his property taxes increased. “I want to be here and be involved with the state and the city.”
Mary Cozad, District 10, Democrat
Mary Cozad of DeKalb is a recently retired Northern Illinois University Spanish professor and has lived in DeKalb for 25 years. She has experience in elected office, having served eight years on the DeKalb District 428 school board, and has volunteered for the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the American Cancer Society, and is a breast cancer survivor herself.
She said she’s running to continue to serve her district.
“I am very hardworking,” she said. “I have participated in three women’s marches, two post office rallies. I care about my district and it’s been a wonderful place to live and raise our family. The County Board service is a lot like school board service in that much of what it does is nonpartisan.”
Cozad, like many County Board members, said she doesn’t believe there’s a lot of wiggle room in the DeKalb County Board budget and heralded past boards for their responsible stewardship.
She supports deferment of property tax payments for those struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic and said it’s important that front-line workers be provided adequate safety equipment.
She also said she supports a graduated income tax in Illinois.
“There’s going to have to be more reliance on state and federal funds, so please vote for the Fair Tax,” she said. “That would give the state of Illinois more money to be able to contribute to relief for the effects of the pandemic.”
Roberta McFarland, District 11, Democrat
Roberta McFarland and her husband, John, her high school sweetheart, moved to Hinckley from outside the county in 2015. She has two daughters and recently retired in June but worked eight years as a middle school science teacher and 19 years as a school counselor.
“I bring what I believe is a fresh view to the challenges we face, as well as enthusiasm, curiosity, and a lifelong habit of hard work,” she said.
Like the other candidates, she cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest challenge facing her district, and said its impact on small businesses is going to be “a huge challenge.”
Living in a rural community, she said climate change also is a struggle facing farmers.
“Since we’ve been here in Hinckley, we see the farmers really struggling with strange weather patterns,” she said. “Last year was a horrible year for farming.”
Similar to her fellow candidates, McFarland said she’s not sure the County Board budget has much room to cut.
Karen Cribben, District 11 (2-year unexpired term), Republican
Karen Cribben, who lives in Squaw Grove Township with a Somonauk address and a Sandwich phone number, recently retired as chief deputy of the DeKalb County Assessment Office after 12 years. She was appointed to serve District 11 on the County Board in August 2019 and wishes to continue her service.
She has lived in the county with her husband for 30 years, and they raise corn, soybeans, hay and have small cow, calf and feeder operations.
“So I think I have some interests in several parts of the county,” she said.
In addition to the pandemic, Cribben cited Aurora Sportsman’s Club as an issue some in her district are facing. In an August vote to expand the permit for the gun club, where the DeKalb County sheriff’s deputies will now train, Cribben said she’d heard from constituents complaints about noise and lighting.
“I would hope they would be responsible neighbors,” she said. “I voted against the last proposal because I didn’t feel that that commitment was coming from them.”
She said another issue she’d like addressed at the board level is bringing up the weight limits on certain roads during the year for farmers to be able to move grain.
Brian Kubisak, District 12, Democrat
Brian Kubisak is a lifelong resident of Sandwich and a small-business owner who operates an electrical shop, employing locals who he’s working with to get unionized, he said.
He also is a veteran and said he’s been homeless as a result of “diseases of despair,” citing drug addiction and suicide as problems facing his district.
He said he’d bring “real accountability” to the DeKalb County Board.
“I believe in taking on drug addiction, not by decriminalization but by compassion and rebuilding socioeconomic opportunities,” Kubisak said.
He said he’d like to help those during the pandemic who are suffering financially like him, a small-business owner.
“They are the engine of this nation,” he said.
He said that over the years, Sandwich has seen a lot of drug addiction issues.
“We’ve got to build a coalition to reach out to that,” Kubisak said.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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