2008 General Election: Kane County Board District 4

Bonnie Kunkel, 50, a Democrat, is a first-term incumbent on the County Board. Her challenger is Nancy Hopp, 64, a Republican. They are running for Kane County Board District 4, which is located on Aurora's West Side.

Bonnie Kunkel
Why are you running for this office?
I am driven to support & protect my fellow citizens and the rich environment of Kane County. I know how important the county board is and that my contributions are unique and valuable.

Each year the Board manages about $75 million in general revenues and over $200 million in total revenues for our one half million citizens. Our county spreads over 522 square miles. Our forest preserves encompass 18,000 acres. The County is responsible for 312 miles of county roads, our health department, the courts, the jail and alternative programs, emergency management, veterans' affairs and a workforce of nearly 1.400 employees. Further, the County can and does lead by example in areas such as land use planning and water management.

I am passionate about the value of county government and my place in it.

Why are you the most qualified for this position?
In addition to my four years of experience on the Kane County Board, I have the education, community experience and assertativeness needed.

My excellent education (West Aurora High School, University of Chicago and University of Illinois law school) taught me critical thinking, theories of government, public speaking, negotiation, contract law and legal analysis. I have represented over a thousand local families in crisis. I have invested my lifetime in this community working with diverse groups of people such as seniors, abused children, pregnant teens, homeless persons, scientists, business owners, Hispanics and so on. Consequently, I am able to identify, understand and articulate our community's issues.

I am not afraid to speak up with different ideas or to question expenditures. For example, I recently voted against pay raises for elected officials, arguing that they were too high in the current economic climate. The raises passed. Our chairman later admitted that we could not afford the raises in light of our declining revenues. In order to manage our future revenue reductions and challenges, we will need every board member to engage in public discussion of the difficult choices that we will need to make.

What major needs of the county would you like to see addressed?
I would like to see us protect our people and protect our environment.

We can protect our people first by protecting our workforce, the roughly 1,400 dedicated employees who live and shop in our communities. They are the backbone of the County and will outlast most of our elected officials. Secondly, we can protect our citizens with adequate law enforcement, health care and emergency preparedness while being mindful of the financial burden that county taxes place upon their increasingly strained personal finances.

We can protect our environment in many ways:
-By wise investment of forest preserve dollars to preserve open space and create a greenbelt through the County;
-By restricting urban sprawl through strict enforcement of the 2030 land use plan;
-Through farmland preservation;
-By developing alternative transportation including bicycle route expansion; and
-Leading by example in the adoption of new 'green' technologies like hybrid vehicles and alternative energy.

What do you think budget priorities should be? How sound do you believe the county's finances are?
The County's finances are sound at this time, but if we continue spending at the same pace they will become unsound.

The County's budget, and by extension our financial director Cheryl Patelli, is recognized as top notch. Additionally, we have an excellent bond rating. These are external indicia of sound financial policies.

In the last four years, we spent a lot of money that took years to accumulate and we issued several bonds. Two major projects of the past term were the $56 million jail (under budget) and the Cougars' stadium expansion. We have several other costly projects and acquisitions in the hopper, e.g., purchasing the Wards building and an ice arena, constructing a new 911 facility and an automotive maintenance facility, and consolidation of county offices at the Judicial Center complex. This is more than we can afford, especially with the economic downturn. Moreover, it is more than we need. My budget priorities are to maintain essential services and staff. New buildings can usually wait.

Now that the federal government has given its blessing to the Prairie Parkway, do you believe this road will become a reality? What role do you see the county taking assuming this project progresses? Will the parkway be beneficial to Kane County?

I do not know if the Prairie Parkway ("PP") will be built in whole or in part. Unfortunately, construction would begin in one of the most expensive areas (bridge) and one of the most environmentally sensitive areas (Big Rock).

I'm not sure that Kane County has much of a role in the PP project since such a small portion touches Kane County. Unfortunately, I did not see a willingness to support our Big Rock constituents in opposing the PP.

The PP will not provide much benefit to Kane County citizens. Its alignment is too far west to relieve our traffic congestion. Improving Route 47 would be a much greater benefit and would not promote urban sprawl nor harm environmentally sensitive areas. It would also be more cost effective.

How should the county fund future transportation needs? Are toll roads/bridges the answer? Can/should we expect more from the state or federal governments?
Inadequate transportation funding is a huge problem. Since our locally located
state roads are so inadequate in quantity and quality, the county is forced to pick up the slack by building and maintaining a large proportion of the local roads. This year the state did get us more money for our transportation fund (and the RTA) by increasing our sales tax. Our board unwisely voted to give a 'slice' of our revenues to the municipalities' projects while still leaving our county's needs seriously under funded. We cannot afford to give away money until we first pay for our own needs.

I am not opposed to the north end toll bridge. The affected municipalities support it. It will have little impact on my constituents. Because of its location, it will serve large numbers from a neighboring county who would not otherwise contribute to its cost.

Do you support the plan for the future county campus?
I support consolidating court related services at the Kane County Judicial Center campus. Now this campus contains the newly constructed jail and sheriff's office, the Juvenile Justice Center, and the Judicial Center which houses some of our courtrooms and ancillary offices, e.g., State's Attorney, Public Defender, Court Services, Law Library and a satellite of the Circuit Court Clerk's office. We should add the rest of the courts, the Circuit Court Clerk and the 911 Center. These offices all work in concert. The offices and the public would benefit from their proximity.

I do not see any need to move all county offices to the campus, especially those which do not have a high volume of in person citizen usage, like the IT (Information Technology) Department and the County Board office. First - the move and construction would waste money, which is in increasingly short supply. Second, we should retain our beautiful and historic campus in downtown Geneva that is within walking distance of the Metra and overlaps one of our forest preserves. Third - it is safest not to 'put all your eggs in one basket'. Our IT Department plans to handle a catastrophic loss at its main site by replicating data and connections at a second site. Other emergency issues are also better accommodated by having a backup site. Fourth - We should save space for future needs that are not currently apparent. The campus can fill up fast.

If the economy continues to falter and budget cuts must be made, what departments/programs would you like to cut first?
I would first look to cut lobbyists, like our under performing transportation lobbyist, consultants and outside professionals. Our transportation department alone spends millions annually on outside engineers. I would like to do more work 'in house', typically at one-third the cost.

Nancy Hopp
Why are you running for this office?
My parents taught me the importance of giving back to the community, something I have done my entire life through volunteer efforts. Long before I retired from Dreyer Medical Clinic in 2007, I felt that public service would be an ideal fit for my skills and abilities. In addition to extensive knowledge of Kane and other nearby counties as a result of my work for Dreyer, I also have a varied business background and a long record of community service. Family members before me have been elected leaders, and I have been involved with government relations at three of my previous employment posts. I chose the county because it is primarily a planning body, not a legislative group, and because it functions in a relatively nonpartisan manner most of the time. I want to give people a voice and reconnect them with a higher caliber of representation than they currently have. I'm running because I am confident I can do that.

Why are you the most qualified for this position?
In addition to my education, a BA in social sciences and an MS in business management, I have strong communications skills and the ability to interact with all types of people in a fair and thoughtful manner. I have worked with dozens of organizations, both private and not-for-profit, throughout the Fox Valley. I have served on several city and county committees, starting 18 years ago in 1994. I am a consensus builder with a reputation for tackling problems, listening to others' views, and offering positive solutions.

What major needs of the county would you like to see addressed?
My foremost focus will be helping the county meet the needs of its residents. This includes providing cost-effective and efficient operations, making sure development is intelligent and balanced and has greatly improved roads, providing adequate resources for safe and stable neighborhoods in all communities, and preserving open space and natural areas. Fortunately, I am pleased that Kane County has already taken the lead to ensure the provision and protection of water supply resources for the area in the future.

What do you think budget priorities should be? How sound do you believe the county's finances are?
Unlike Springfield and Washington, Kane County is functioning well, thanks to the leadership and checks and balances in place now. Remarkably, the county has been able to meet its obligations and continue operations without increasing its tax rate, and in fact, keeping it below 5%. With the shortfalls projected in revenue due to the economic crisis, Kane County will have to be proactive in pursuing even more efficiencies. From past paid and volunteer work, I have solid experience in "belt-tightening" and will be able to contribute much to the process at the county level. The recently enacted hiring freeze policy was an important first step. But my opponent, the incumbent, was one of only two board members to vote against the hiring freeze.

Now that the federal government has given its blessing to the Prairie Parkway, do you believe this road will become a reality? What role do you see the county taking assuming this project progresses? Will the parkway be beneficial to Kane County?
Roads both follow and precede development. The Prairie Parkway is a federal and state project that connects I-88 and I-80 and runs parallel to Route 47 and Dauberman Road. Only a few miles of the project lie in Kane County, between Sugar Grove and Big Rock. It is unlikely that any funds to build a roadway of this magnitude will be forthcoming from either Washington or Springfield, given the more pressing dilemmas these government units must deal with in the short term and also because of the slowing of growth in the area. Kane County's primary role will be to ensure that the transit needs of local municipalities and their residents are adequately met while, at the same, meet their pledge in the 2030 Plan to protect the rural character of the western third corridor of the county. A more important and immediate priority should be the widening and resurfacing of Route 47.

How should the county fund future transportation needs? Are toll roads/bridges the answer? Can/should we expect more from the state or federal governments?
The concept of toll financing is a creative one, offered as an alternative to raising taxes. The proposal to use tolls to pay for the construction of a bridge in northern Kane County evolved from discussions with nearly a dozen mayors or village managers working together to resolve a traffic problem. There will be more of this type of creative thinking on the part of the board and its Transportation Committee, I hope, complete with the inclusion of whatever restrictions and limits are necessary. Expanded public transportation may also be a creative way to help people move about economically within Kane County. The state has not come through with its share for the costs of infrastructure improvements, i.e., roads and bridges, and it's unrealistic to expect a sudden change of heart without a change in leadership in Springfield. The county, must, however, continue to aggressively pursue whatever state and federal funds might be available, while also considering alternatives such as the toll bridge.

Do you support the plan for the future county campus?
I have not had the opportunity to study the actual future county campus plan. However, future planning for facilities should be an ongoing topic of discussion. The relocation of public safety to the court services site on Route 38 and Peck Road was a smart move, economically and operationally. But here again, my opponent lacked vision for the future and voted against developing a master plan for the Judicial Center Complex. Because county offices are located in several different physical plants, real economies in areas such as building maintenance, utilities, travel expenses, etc. would result if services were consolidated in one building or at fewer scattered sites. Citizens would also find access more convenient. The Circuit Clerk's office could move from the former Montgomery Ward building on Randall in St. Charles, and the Regional Superintendent of Schools could be housed in a location other than the Sixth Street School in Geneva, if and when room in existing facilities is available and their current facilities could be sold, or capital is available. Much will depend on the real estate market. Ideally, it would be nice and wise to have most county services centralized at one or two "campuses" in the tri-cities area, with certain services, such as public health, also available as they are now, in Aurora and Elgin.

If the economy continues to falter and budget cuts must be made, what departments/programs would you like to cut first?
Everything will have to be looked at carefully. Budget cuts are already being made. Staff most likely will need to assume more responsibilities as attrition occurs, and as grants are not renewed. Some projects and purchases may need to be postponed. Perhaps more items will need to go to bid. Some travel may be curtailed. Departments may have projects or programs they will opt to drop. But state-mandated services cannot be arbitrarily cut. Vigilance to morale and the needs of county employees and residents will be critical during the next few years, as well as the cooperation of all department heads and board members.