Hot Topics In General

Hot topics are frequently discussed and don’t typically have easy solutions.

They are of great concern to residents, businesses, and I don’t take them lightly myself.

Every issue is important, and every issue will be dealt with to the best of my ability.

I won’t give you the political answer you may want to hear. I tend to tell it like it is, and that is not always popular.

I won’t make false promises or say I have instant solutions to get elected. I will promise to identify problems, explore ideas and solutions, and never stop in my efforts to resolve these issues.

Some of these issues are under control of other government agencies, private property owners, landlords, management companies, or financial constraints are in place.

Some of the most contentious issues are not in control of the village. However, there are steps that can and will be explored and taken.

Transportation

Roads and Railways

Roads

The condition of the roads is always a hot topic. Some of our major roads are not under our control. Some of them belong to the State or County. When this is the case we will bring the issue to the attention of the appropriate party.

The Village of Mundelein only has control over village roads.

The Village has a five year priority plan on road construction projects. This plan is analyzed yearly and some projects might move up and some might move down in priority.

Some of our roads (like McKinley) [while they are a high priority] are so expensive they would take an entire years road budget or more to complete. In this situation we try to obtain grants or alternative funding to get these priorities completed. These are usually situations where major reconstruction or configuration has to take place.

Roads are a top priority in my administration but I won’t make false promises.

Railways and railway crossings aren’t under the control of local municipalities. They are under Federal Jurisdiction. Having said that, every effort will be taken to inform railroad companies and the Federal Railroad Administration of concerns, and the Illinois Commerce Commission of Rail Safety concerns.

While the 60/83 railway crossing is outside of the Mundelein Village boundries, the village has contributed funding to the railroad grade separation project at that railway crossing.

Vacancies

Empty Storefronts

This is another hot topic and one not easily solved.

Vacant properties and storefronts are typically privately owned. As such there are constraints on what the village can do.

Vacant storefronts, especially long term ones can hurt our current businesses. Long term vacant properties can also hurt the image of our town.

We don’t want to harm any property owners, however, we have to maintain the integrity of our town and must find a compromise solution.

What we can and can’t do:

We have lists of vacant properties and when businesses etc come to us we listen to their needs and suggest available properties they can check into.

We do have ordinances in place for maintenance issues that can be enforced.

We can’t determine lease or rent rates. We currently can’t force a property owner to lease their property out.

We can explore ‘white elephant’ or “vacant property” ordinances. Ones that help fill the vacancies without undo harm to the property owners.

We can work with property owners to take advantage of our BIG ( Big Incentive Grant) program providing matching funds to enhance or beautify their properties.

We can find out why some properties remain vacant and see if we can cooperatively find solutions to get them occupied.

Rise Dispensary Sales Tax Revenues

When the Dispensary was first built it was the first and only dispensary in Northern Illinois. As a result of that the customer draw was extensive from a very large area and the sales tax revenues could be considered large.

(Which was a good thing. COVID hit and those sales tax revenues made up for the lost sales tax revenues from the other businesses that had to shut down.)

When the planning for the medical dispensary (under another name and opened in 2015) it was known the initial traffic and revenues would be high.

After that as other dispensaries were built, the traffic and sales tax revenues have continued to decrease each year. Planning for the decrease in revenue could have begun from the beginning as it was a known outcome. That downward trend is expected to continue until it will eventually balance out to a new annual sales tax ‘normal’, nowhere near the original figures.