March 5, 2025 • 33 mins
Tuesday, March 4th, the Mokena's Future slate hosted their 3rd meet and greet at Clancy Bros. Coffee. There next meet and greet will be Tuesday March 18th at Clancy Bros.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm out here again at Clancy Brothers.
Tonight is the third of thecandidate meet and greets for
the Mocana's Future Slate.
So you can see here we are atClancy's.
Let's hear what they have tosay and see who came out tonight
to hear from these candidates.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, thank you all for coming out tonight.
We appreciate it in the crummyweather.
It means a lot to all of usthat you took the time to come
out here tonight and you want toknow where we're going to try
to take the village of Molina.
And one of the trustees is DickClancy.
The other trustee is JimRoberts, and Kim Yulsman
(00:43):
couldn't make it tonight becauseshe's got parent-teacher zone
and that she can't see it.
But we were just sitting downyesterday, all of us.
We got big plans for Mokina,but I can't do anything unless
these trustees get in.
This is the best group of peopleI've ever run with.
This is my 10th campaign and Iget sick of people.
(01:09):
I'm hearing from some people oh, you've been doing this for so
many years.
Fine, I've been doing a goodjob for so many years.
There's absolutely no reason tochange it right now and bring
someone in who's untested, eventhough he's taking credit for
everything we do in Moltena.
That's fine.
I'm not.
(01:30):
I can't do anything without mystaff, but I really can't do
anything without the board,because I don't vote.
I put the agenda together forall of our meetings.
I talk to different people, Italk to businesses about coming
into Molina, but I don't vote.
(01:52):
So my opponent likes to try toblame me for everything that
goes on, but I've tried to dothings.
You saw all the information infront of you.
I've been trying to put itdowntown together for years, but
they have to vote.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to hand it to nick next
(02:12):
and let you go.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Awesome, thank, you, mayor, uh, yeah, yeah.
Just to echo what the mayor hadto say about you guys being
here tonight, thank you.
It's a rainy Tuesday night, youknow.
I'm sure a lot of us wouldrather be in our homes, you know
, kicking it up, watching TV,but thank you for coming out and
(02:34):
being here.
It shows that you actually careabout what's happening in your
town.
So thank you for that.
I just want to talk a littlebit about just who I am and what
kind of motivates me to run andwhat is special about Mokina
and that's kind of a majorinfluence for why I'm up here
today.
I'll tell a quick story.
About three years ago we, meand my brother we came into
(02:57):
Mokina looking for a home forClancy Brothers Coffee Roasters
and we looked down Front Streethere in downtown Mokena and my
brother, chris, said all right,we can cross Mokena off the list
.
I said, gee, that was kind ofquick, you know.
So we kind of just moved on.
But my sister, who has lived inMokena for 14 years, called me
(03:19):
back and says you have to seethis bank building on the corner
of Wolf and the Port.
Did you not see this beautifulbrick building on the corner of
Wolf on the Port.
Did you not see this beautifulbrick building on the corner of
Wolf on the Port?
No, I didn't.
We just left because thedowntown was kind of sad.
And so we came back and welooked in this building and I
caught this feeling.
People say don't make decisionson feelings, but I had a
(03:43):
feeling.
I said there's somethinghappening here in Mokina that I
want to be a part of, and soopening a business is a leap of
faith, no matter where youdecide to open up your business.
But I just knew that we wantedto be on the cusp of what's
going to happen here in Mokina,and that, primarily, is with the
businesses that we hope toattract here in this amazing
(04:04):
town.
And we have some big plans fordowntown, and so I want to tell
another quick story just to kindof give you an idea of what
that plan will entail for thedowntown.
I was sitting with a friend overcoffee, of all things, the
other day, and he's in his late20s and he's planning to build a
family.
Right, he just got married, andso he sat down with his wife
(04:26):
and he said okay, we got twokids and we want to shoot for
five.
So that means we have to havethree more.
So we live in this tiny littleduplex.
So we need to start planningfor how we're going to be able
to handle this population growth.
And so we're going to have toget that minivan.
We're going to have to get aminivan.
We're going to have to get abigger house.
(04:47):
We're going to have to maybestart working some more hours.
You might have to get a secondjob, right?
So all that to say.
When you decide to sit down andgrow a family, you plan for it.
You sit down and you figure outwhat you're going to have to do
in order to be able to handlethat kind of growth.
And so what we plan to do,before we even think about
(05:07):
growing the population,developing the downtown, is to
actually sit down and put acomprehensive plan together.
And that's exactly what we'vedone.
We put a plan together to say,okay, we're going to build this
beautiful town, this beautifuldowntown that's going to attract
residents from all over thesesurrounding towns that come into
Mokena.
The population is going to goup.
Can we handle that?
(05:29):
Do we have the framework toaccommodate that kind of growth?
And so it's been brought to myattention that things like
traffic studies are unnecessaryhere in Mokina, but that traffic
study is actually part of thatgreater plan to sit down and
figure out how are we going tohandle an influx of people
coming to tour our great townfrom Tinley and Orland and New
(05:52):
Lenox and Homer Glen and allthese awesome towns around us.
We have to sit down and be ableto know that our roads can
handle it and that we're set upfor success, and so that's kind
of where my mind goes forgrowing this town is just the
downtown and making sure thatwe're set up for success, and so
that's kind of where my mindgoes for growing this town is
just the downtown and makingsure that we're doing things in
an orderly manner.
And I'm just really excited tonot only bring leadership to the
(06:15):
table but to be under greatleadership.
Our mayor has been an amazingleader and he's shared his
vision with me enough so thatI'm going to run for trustee.
If you would have asked me I'mgoing to run for trustee six
months ago I would have told youno, but because of the
leadership and the vision thathe has and getting to know Jim
and just we have a great teamhere.
(06:36):
And so if you believe in thevision that we have, I'd say
vote for us, just go ahead andspeak through your vote and
we'll get to work.
So thank you.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Last.
I'm Jim Roberts.
I've lived in the buildingsince 1990.
I moved in with my wife, peggyover here, and my three
daughters.
At the time my youngest one wasthree days old.
So they've grown up here.
They're all married with ninegrandkids now.
So life in Moketa has beengreat.
Love it here.
This is my career, retirementin 2019.
(07:17):
So just to tell you quickly howI got up here, frank and I had
been talking about internetservices in the village and how
expensive they've gotten andthat I consider it a utility
nowadays, just like we used tothink about a phone in a house,
kids were learning at home andall that, and they needed the
internet.
So it's pretty expensive.
(07:37):
So how are we going to do that?
So I talked to him aboutclassifying as a utility doing a
study, whatever it would take.
Maybe we could get grant moneyto figure out how to build an
infrastructure for Internet forthe people of Molkina.
And so we had a fewconversations and out of nowhere
you know, frank calls and sayshey, I got an opening on the
(07:57):
board and I was like, wow,that's a solid money number one.
So, anyway, so I agreed to doit and on November 11th I was
sworn in as a trustee.
So I've been on the board aboutfour months and you know when I
then he talked me into this,running also this on top of it.
(08:19):
But being on the board for fourmonths, I tell you what it's an
eye-opener.
People that are in the villagethat aren't engaged have no idea
what's going on in the village.
There's stuff being built allover the village.
Every corner of the village hasgot something going on and
we've got opponents that saynothing's going on.
We need new leadership and Ican tell you I've had Frank how
(08:43):
many hours have you?
And I talked Probably in thehundreds by now right Yesterday
myself and Nick came in.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, yesterday we were here for two hours, and the
ideas that we came up with wereunbelievable.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Right, and the thing about Nick was, you know, I
didn't know Nick and we startedtalking and found out that Nick
thinks the same way we do.
You know, I'm like twice hisage, probably over twice his age
, but here's this guy.
He thinks just like we do.
So all this made me want to run, yeah, yeah.
So I decided to run again andas Nick was talking about
(09:16):
traffic studies and other stuffyou have to do in the village,
you know, in order to get grantmoney you have to do these
studies.
Yeah, and these studies take along time and sometimes it seems
like nothing's gettingaccomplished.
But you know, you could do astudy and it might take a year
to get a study back, maybelonger, and it seems like for a
year you've just been sitting onyour hands with no progress.
(09:37):
But ultimately, if you look at,you know, 191st last year, they
resurfaced it that was donewith grant money.
Their 191st last year theyresurfaced it that was done with
grant money.
Their study's done.
We get grant money and we do it.
Right now we're getting readyto do this summer we're going to
be doing LaForte Road over here.
It's the same thing you do astudy and you get grant money,
because without the grant moneywe would have to tax at much
(09:59):
higher rates than we do to getthe infrastructure done all the
time.
Over the last couple years,we've redone the water treatment
plant.
Nobody's taxes went up.
We did it.
We built a new policedepartment.
Nobody's taxes went up.
All was saved, all has beenpaid for.
The village is.
(10:20):
You know, when I say what am Irunning, what can I improve?
I tell you what.
The financial, the physicalresponsibility in this village
is absolutely incredible.
That's one of the lowest taxrates of anybody around and
everything that goes on in thatvillage the first thing is
considered is the residents andthe burden that we would put on
them.
And we have to find ways to payfor stuff without burdening our
(10:43):
community.
And that's my philosophy,that's Frank's philosophy,
nick's philosophy.
Everyone here can say our taxbills are too high, our property
taxes are too high and as avillage we're aware of that.
We're aware of that and we knowthat we cannot raise taxes.
We have to find a way to bephysically responsible to get
(11:05):
the infrastructure in thevillage that's needed.
Our number one revenue sourcein the village is sales tax and
we are constantly aware of thatand constantly knowing that we
need more businesses in thevillage, and the right kind of
businesses in the village.
You know Front Street.
When I moved in in 1990, theywere talking about Front Street.
(11:28):
You've got to do all this stuffon Front Street.
It's going to be gorgeous.
35 years later, you know we'vedone nothing.
I mean I shouldn't say we'vedone nothing.
There's new buildings, there'sstuff, and not to the pace that
you would think in 35 years.
You know, and, as I've told,think in 35 years.
You know, and as I told frankand them, you know, as a sitting
(11:50):
on the board and being part ofthe governors of moquina, it's
our job to make downtownaccessible.
Yeah, for the public, whetherthey're driving there, they want
to ride a bike there, they wantto jog there.
However, they want to get downthere to make it easy for them
and their family to go downtown.
Myself I prefer to see themwalk or ride, so I'm into more
(12:20):
bike paths and trails at Yunkersto get us into downtown, yeah,
ways people can access downtownas a family easy, and so part of
my thought in downtown isopening up the access points,
making it easier to get in andout of Mokena, downtown Mokena
and hopefully then run somefairs for businesses that we
would like to come to see.
Come to downtown Mokena andcourt them, work them as a group
, and that's how I envisionedour downtown eventually getting
(12:45):
done.
We have a TIF area.
If you're not familiar withTIFs, the downtown area is a TIF
area.
I'm not personally fond of TIFs, but when you have an area
that's as distressed as a lot ofthose buildings, we're just not
going to find investors come inand all that stuff.
So the TIF is a good way tosubsidize that and get people
(13:06):
that are interested in comingdown.
In the next four years, if I'melected and Nick's elected,
that's kind of like what one ofour guidances is going to be.
So I think that's pretty muchwhere our visions are.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Just to give you an idea, remember when he came to
that board meeting.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Remember what you said to me afterwards about the
downtown, about the boards.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Yeah, you want me to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Please.
I think it's important that thepeople know where we're at.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So when we decided that we were going to give
Mokina a second shot, a secondlook, I said I'm going to go to
a board meeting, I'm just goingto, you know, covertly, just go.
I actually sat right next toJimmy Schlegel.
I don't know if you rememberthat was the first time I met
Jim and I heard the mayor talkabout having a viable downtown.
(14:05):
Because that's what we plannedto do.
We plan to make Mokena have aviable downtown because the
people here deserve it.
I got up, I walked out, calledmy brother.
I said we're going to come toMokena.
So that's all I needed to hearis to have a leader who believes
in businesses and smallbusinesses and buying local and
(14:30):
making the path just a littlebit easier for people who have
dreams and passions aboutopening up a business and to
know that they have a villagethat's behind them, is going to
be a wind behind them, to givethem some momentum because you
need some serious momentum whenyou open up a business for the
first time and to know that wenot only have received that but
(14:51):
we have a mayor who believes incultivating that and fostering
those kind of relationshipsmoving forward.
So I'm really excited, you guys.
So I can't wait to see whathappens here in April.
But, more than anything, I justwant to get to work.
I want to see who we're goingto be working with.
I want to see who we're goingto be working with, and I think
(15:11):
that's super important.
Whoever ends up in these spotsis only going to be as
successful as their ability tocollaborate and work with the
people that they're in it with,and so I'm really excited about
that.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And yeah thank you, I'm glad you brought that up,
because now it's election time,so everybody wants a downtown.
Yeah, everybody wants adowntown.
But the person I'm runningagainst said we'll never have a
downtown.
We'll never have a downtown.
Let the developers come in anddecide what they're going to
(15:44):
build.
Can you imagine that?
Let the developers come in anddecide what they're going to
build in our town and we won'thave a plan.
I don't think he's a bad guy.
I just don't think heunderstands how to run a village
and we don't need that.
We're bringing Molkina into the20th century, 24th century.
(16:08):
Let's not go backwards, into1990.
And I'm telling you that'swhere they'll bring us, because
they have no idea what it takesto move forward in this town.
In the short time I worked withJim, nick and Kim, they
(16:29):
understand it right off the bat.
They know exactly what we'retalking about.
They're on the same page andthey've never done this before.
So it's not brain surgery, it'sjust common sense.
And if you haven't helped meout to this point, you're never
going to help me out.
That's why I need, in order toget the job done, I need the
(16:49):
three people I'm running withand I promise you you will get a
downtown.
You will get around downtown,it will get started and we'll
move forward on it and it'sgoing to be a good downtown.
Just think about it.
How many communities would loveto have their downtown next to
Mr Younger's farm, next to aforest preserve?
(17:11):
Can you imagine that?
I mean the setup we have here.
We should have started this along, long time ago.
What the heck were they waitingfor?
I'll tell you they can't make adecision to save their life.
That's what it was.
They're not bad people.
They just can't make decisions.
That's all Because we need tomove forward.
(17:33):
We can't sit here the people inthis town.
When I did a poll I did twopolls Four years ago.
I took a poll 70% of the peoplewanted a viable downtown.
I took a poll four years later70% of the people want a viable
downtown.
I don't know where these peoplegot their information or who
(17:58):
they were talking to, butthey've been 100% wrong for all
these years.
It's time to get that town freeresidence.
You pay enough in taxes.
We've got to give backsomething.
We've got to give backsomething Someplace to go,
someplace to bring your kids to,someplace that you want to ride
your bikes to and Some placethat you want to ride your bikes
to and run into one of yourfriends there with your family.
That's what we need here.
(18:19):
We've got to get you a downtownand I promise we'll do that.
I might not see the end of it,but I'm going to get it started.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I promise you that.
Nick will see the end of it.
You know, when we first movedin my daughters they used to
come up to us.
They'd go Dad who ordered that?
And what would they used to saythey want to walk uptown with
their friends.
You know, uptown and this isthe 1990-91, you know we thought
uptown there was like apharmacy and a little store with
(18:51):
some candy or whatever, andthat was their thing.
I would love to have placeslike that where kids today would
say I want to go uptown and getan ice cream or get a candy bar
or whatever.
I'm not even sure if you'd geta candy bar on Front Street
today.
Maybe you can, I'm not surewhere.
(19:12):
But is there a place?
No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
When Lori and I moved out here 48 years ago, there
was actually more businessdowntown than there is now.
We bought ski jackets from aplace downtown and there was
other things going on down there.
People have got to understand.
To open up a business now,especially a restaurant, you're
(19:39):
paying three quarters of amillion dollars to outfit their
restaurant.
If you don't feel like theboard is really, really wants
you there, you're not going toinvest that money.
We've got to let people knowthat we're serious about the
downtown, just like Frankfurtdid.
(20:00):
That's the way they did it.
The board made a commitment.
Everybody knew there was acommitment there and Frankfurt's
downtown grew.
That's what's going to happento Mokina.
We get up there and let peopleknow that we're behind them.
We try to give them some formsof incentive to get started and
they know that the board isbehind them.
You'll get downtown.
I promise you you'll getdowntown we've had conversations
(20:23):
.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
You know, if we're fortunate to be elected, we're
going to put an agenda togetheron the front side, frank's going
to present it at the meeting,and to our administrators which
I want to add to present it atthe meeting and to our
administrators, which I want toadd to our administrators in the
village.
If you don't know them, theseare some of the most fantastic
people I've known in my life.
I have never been around somany people that only know how
(20:45):
to smile.
You walk in there I'm not kenyawhether it's john, our
administrator, our, our attorney, uh, the clerkks working behind
the counter, they haveabsolutely phenomenal,
phenomenal personalities.
Yeah, I tell you what I wish I,whoever hired all those people,
I wish I'd have had them backin the day hiring people to work
for me.
They are, they are really, theyare class people.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know what somebody told me, jim, one thing
I've learned over the years ifyou're in any position like me
being the mayor, you get a goodnumber one and he makes you look
awful good.
And that's what I did.
I got somebody that knew whathe was doing and I just stood
back and watched him do his job.
And he hired people, he broughtpeople on and, like Jim says
(21:32):
please, this is not a slam atany past staff, but this is the
best staff that we've ever hadat Mokena.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
These people are good .
These are really unbelievablepeople and coming on the board
at the time I did in November,towards the end of a four-year
term, I didn't really know.
Obviously I wasn't engaged, Ididn't know what was going on in
the village.
All of a sudden I'm sitting onthe board and they're wanting me
to vote on stuff.
But I got John, I got Carl theattorney.
They're calling me and they'rewalking me through the history
(22:04):
of the projects that are comingin front of the board.
So you know I'm not maybe thebrightest guy in the world, but
I caught on pretty quickly whatthey were talking about.
They were calling me every weekon Friday and talking about
next week's agenda.
I made sure I read it insideand out a couple times, used the
yellow highlighter because Iknew I was going to get a call,
(22:30):
and they gave me the backstopfor all the stuff going on that
I was going to see every week tomake sure I was fully informed,
because I felt to sit up thereand just say, well, I don't know
enough about that to vote.
I thought that was kind of acop-out.
So these guys, they wereamazing, absolutely amazing,
bringing me up to date intowhat's going on in the village.
(22:51):
Let me tell you there's so muchgoing on in the village.
I mean it's very active Betweenthe executive sessions, the
workshop sessions and the otherthings going on.
There's developers.
There's people there almostevery week talking about what
they want to do in the villageas far as development.
So we're not dying here, we'regrowing.
Unfortunately, some of theareas we're not growing quick
(23:12):
enough is what people notice themost and that's downtown.
They drive by that and theystop there and they go.
Well, it's the same old place.
It was 35 years ago.
It's improved over the years,but we've got a ways to go there
.
I tell you, frank's been ingovernance of some level for a
(23:33):
long time but he's got a goodhandle on what goes on.
It's his agenda that's gettingpassed.
He creates the agenda.
I don't do it, nobody else doesit, and so the things that
happen in the village happen andthey go through him.
I had some things on my agendawhen they put me on the board
and I quickly found out throughthe administrators that anything
(23:55):
I want done on my agenda, I gotto go to this guy first.
So that's how I learned rightaway that what's going on in the
village is because Frank's isputting it out there and he's
setting the agenda and hedoesn't take credit for stuff he
does, but he just stays steadyand just does it, and that's the
way I like to plan.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Take a few questions.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, I think it's time.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, jim.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Jim Slayton, I'm gonna hope this will be
bipartisan right.
My goal is, I think I want tosee 52% of the registered voters
come out and vote.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
I think that this is going to be the best election
that I think you've ever had ina, and I've always referred to
Ed, but every candidate has aqualification.
I think is the highest.
I would not mind having it formy neighbor.
We haven't said that in thepast.
(24:57):
We wouldn't want them for aneighbor.
We make this agreement, but Ithink everyone, everybody
running, would make a greatneighbor.
They're not a great, whatever.
The other issue is that there'sbeen money spent on this, with
signs, with meetings like this.
I mean, mokina has never beenmore engaged in this and I think
(25:25):
that the issue is, no matterwhat side of the fence you are,
80% is for change.
The difference is the 20%.
How to get to change.
That's where the difference is.
However, there's going to belike I say I want 52% because
there's going to be anotherperson in that ballot that's
(25:46):
going to have to win, andnormally in elections like this
in election years, we want toget 15% to 17% for the
registered voters that come out.
I think it's going to be afalse race.
I think if we have a 17 percentturnout, one side wins by 10,
one side wins by 7,.
(26:07):
We can't have change unless wehave people who we believe.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Is there a question in there, Jimmy?
I?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
understand.
We need to get everybody out ofthe boat.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Understood, understood, but is there a
question in there, jimmy?
Speaker 5 (26:24):
The question.
All I'm saying is we need toget everybody out of the boat.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I don't think anything in there.
Absolutely, absolutely, jimmy.
I've been saying that for 10elections, for 10 things Getting
the people out, and you'reright.
I don't know how to get themout.
You can't go to a house andpull them out by their ear.
Do the best you can, jim.
(26:50):
That's all you can do.
Does anybody else have aquestion?
Sure, do the best you can, jim.
That's all you can do.
Does anybody else have aquestion?
Yes, sure, I know you're goingto be circling too much on this,
but I'm really thinking back towhat you said.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
How a leader needs to vote for the entire state If
some are elected, others are not.
How do you plan to handle thosedifficult conversations?
How do you shape your leadsduring the four weeks and how do
you move forward when yourschool edits?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I've been doing it for 12 years.
I've been doing it for 12 yearswith a board that was very hard
to work with.
So you learn how to do it.
You learn how to get somethingdone.
We're not really a slate okay,we're a pack.
We're a group of people thatfeel that we could do a good job
.
Mokina's future is not a slate,but we're running together
(27:47):
because we have respect for eachother, so we will not be
grouped together on the ballot.
So we're going to have Sue andyou, jim, on the bottom for the
four-year terms, you're going tobe the second one on the
two-year term and I'll be thesecond one in the mayor's
(28:07):
position.
But that's all you can do.
You get up there and you do thebest you can.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, I think if I could say something, just having
business partners of my own, wedon't always see eye to eye and
I think what has made thateasier for us is shared vision.
Before you enter into a newendeavor, you have to have a
true north.
You have to have something thateveryone agrees on, like that's
(28:38):
essential.
And if you can agree on thatvision, then when there's
disagreements, we can kind ofsay if we go this route, is that
going to move the needletowards where we want to get to?
If we go this route, is thatgoing to move?
And if the answer is no, butsomebody says no I think it
should be yes then we just needto talk that out and make a
(28:59):
decision based on if that'sgoing to bring us to the vision
that we've all agreed upon wewant to see actualized.
So it's not a perfect system,but it's a way for us to at
least say hey, this is going tobe collaborative, we want it to
be collaborative.
There are going to bedisagreements.
We're not going to see eye toeye on everything, but if we
can't come to an agreementthrough conversations and
(29:21):
humility, then we vote andthat's how we get it done when
we can't get it done throughconversation, we vote and yeah,
so that's a great question.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yeah, to add to that, just for you know, if, if by
chance, we end up with splittickets which possible, who
knows what the heck's going tohappen?
Yeah, it's still going to be upto the trustees to go to whoever
the elected mayor or the mayorthat got elected to go to who
maybe wasn't on his ticket, togo out and reach out to them,
see what their agendas are, howthey can work the agenda
together, because, at the end ofthe day, if whoever's elected
(29:56):
mayor doesn't bring a solidagenda to the board, then we're
talking about status quo forfour more years.
There has to be an agenda thathas to start on day one about
what the trustees that areelected and the mayor that's
elected, what direction theywant to go and what they want to
accomplish, because four yearsis not a lot of time to start
(30:18):
talking about things.
If you're not locked into well,I'm going to do a traffic study
, I want to do this kind ofstudy If you're not locked into
doing those things prettyquickly, then a lot of things
that we talk about can't happen.
They won't happen, because theycan only then happen is if we
raised your taxes and paid forit ourselves.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And we talked here the other day and Jim and Nick
are right on we need a trafficstudy to get it started, to fill
in everything else.
How's that traffic on Wolf Roadand LaGrange Road doing for you
?
Traffic on Wolf Road andLaGrange Road doing for you?
(30:56):
And it's going to get nothingbut worse unless we have a
traffic study that shows us howto move traffic.
And again, I'm sorry, I hate tosound like a broken record, but
I've been trying to get thattraffic study for 12 years but I
can't get that traffic studydone and that's something that
is needed.
That traffic study should befirst so we know how to fit the
(31:18):
comp plan in, and then thedowntown.
So that's extremely importantand I'm getting sick over the
years, of taking the blame forsomething that I can't get the
board to do.
It's just that simple.
I know the buck stops here, butI can only do so much.
(31:39):
I bring it up, you know, as anagenda item.
They have to sit there and voteon it.
I'm stuck if they don't give methe yes vote and that's got to
stop.
This has got to be it.
I'm telling you this has got tobe it because Mokina is at a
crossroads, and I'll tell youwhat the people we're running
(32:00):
against will take us backwards.
I guarantee that we are notgoing to go forward anymore.
If the four of us lose thiselection, mokina is going to be
in trouble, and I'm not beingdramatic, I'm being truthful.
It's just that simple, folks.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I just want to thank everybody real quick for coming
out tonight.
I didn't get a chance to talkto all of you, but I appreciate
everyone that's here and it'skind of a cold, rainy night.
But we're going to pick ourbest friends up from the airport
here and I don't know how longthey'll want to wait for me.
But I hate to run out on youwithout thanking everyone for
being here.
(32:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Two weeks from now.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yep, I'm a blake.
Okay, hold on a second, so yeah.
I'm out here again at Clancy Brothers.
Tonight is the third of thecandidate meet and greets for
the Mocana's Future Slate.
So you can see here we are atClancy's.
Let's hear what they have tosay and see who came out tonight
to hear from these candidates.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, thank you all for coming out tonight.
We appreciate it in the crummyweather.
It means a lot to all of usthat you took the time to come
out here tonight and you want toknow where we're going to try
to take the village of Molina.
And one of the trustees is DickClancy.
The other trustee is JimRoberts, and Kim Yulsman
(00:43):
couldn't make it tonight becauseshe's got parent-teacher zone
and that she can't see it.
But we were just sitting downyesterday, all of us.
We got big plans for Mokina,but I can't do anything unless
these trustees get in.
This is the best group of peopleI've ever run with.
This is my 10th campaign and Iget sick of people.
(01:09):
I'm hearing from some people oh, you've been doing this for so
many years.
Fine, I've been doing a goodjob for so many years.
There's absolutely no reason tochange it right now and bring
someone in who's untested, eventhough he's taking credit for
everything we do in Moltena.
That's fine.
I'm not.
(01:30):
I can't do anything without mystaff, but I really can't do
anything without the board,because I don't vote.
I put the agenda together forall of our meetings.
I talk to different people, Italk to businesses about coming
into Molina, but I don't vote.
(01:52):
So my opponent likes to try toblame me for everything that
goes on, but I've tried to dothings.
You saw all the information infront of you.
I've been trying to put itdowntown together for years, but
they have to vote.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to hand it to nick next
(02:12):
and let you go.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Awesome, thank, you, mayor, uh, yeah, yeah.
Just to echo what the mayor hadto say about you guys being
here tonight, thank you.
It's a rainy Tuesday night, youknow.
I'm sure a lot of us wouldrather be in our homes, you know
, kicking it up, watching TV,but thank you for coming out and
(02:34):
being here.
It shows that you actually careabout what's happening in your
town.
So thank you for that.
I just want to talk a littlebit about just who I am and what
kind of motivates me to run andwhat is special about Mokina
and that's kind of a majorinfluence for why I'm up here
today.
I'll tell a quick story.
About three years ago we, meand my brother we came into
(02:57):
Mokina looking for a home forClancy Brothers Coffee Roasters
and we looked down Front Streethere in downtown Mokena and my
brother, chris, said all right,we can cross Mokena off the list
.
I said, gee, that was kind ofquick, you know.
So we kind of just moved on.
But my sister, who has lived inMokena for 14 years, called me
(03:19):
back and says you have to seethis bank building on the corner
of Wolf and the Port.
Did you not see this beautifulbrick building on the corner of
Wolf on the Port.
Did you not see this beautifulbrick building on the corner of
Wolf on the Port?
No, I didn't.
We just left because thedowntown was kind of sad.
And so we came back and welooked in this building and I
caught this feeling.
People say don't make decisionson feelings, but I had a
(03:43):
feeling.
I said there's somethinghappening here in Mokina that I
want to be a part of, and soopening a business is a leap of
faith, no matter where youdecide to open up your business.
But I just knew that we wantedto be on the cusp of what's
going to happen here in Mokina,and that, primarily, is with the
businesses that we hope toattract here in this amazing
(04:04):
town.
And we have some big plans fordowntown, and so I want to tell
another quick story just to kindof give you an idea of what
that plan will entail for thedowntown.
I was sitting with a friend overcoffee, of all things, the
other day, and he's in his late20s and he's planning to build a
family.
Right, he just got married, andso he sat down with his wife
(04:26):
and he said okay, we got twokids and we want to shoot for
five.
So that means we have to havethree more.
So we live in this tiny littleduplex.
So we need to start planningfor how we're going to be able
to handle this population growth.
And so we're going to have toget that minivan.
We're going to have to get aminivan.
We're going to have to get abigger house.
(04:47):
We're going to have to maybestart working some more hours.
You might have to get a secondjob, right?
So all that to say.
When you decide to sit down andgrow a family, you plan for it.
You sit down and you figure outwhat you're going to have to do
in order to be able to handlethat kind of growth.
And so what we plan to do,before we even think about
(05:07):
growing the population,developing the downtown, is to
actually sit down and put acomprehensive plan together.
And that's exactly what we'vedone.
We put a plan together to say,okay, we're going to build this
beautiful town, this beautifuldowntown that's going to attract
residents from all over thesesurrounding towns that come into
Mokena.
The population is going to goup.
Can we handle that?
(05:29):
Do we have the framework toaccommodate that kind of growth?
And so it's been brought to myattention that things like
traffic studies are unnecessaryhere in Mokina, but that traffic
study is actually part of thatgreater plan to sit down and
figure out how are we going tohandle an influx of people
coming to tour our great townfrom Tinley and Orland and New
(05:52):
Lenox and Homer Glen and allthese awesome towns around us.
We have to sit down and be ableto know that our roads can
handle it and that we're set upfor success, and so that's kind
of where my mind goes forgrowing this town is just the
downtown and making sure thatwe're set up for success, and so
that's kind of where my mindgoes for growing this town is
just the downtown and makingsure that we're doing things in
an orderly manner.
And I'm just really excited tonot only bring leadership to the
(06:15):
table but to be under greatleadership.
Our mayor has been an amazingleader and he's shared his
vision with me enough so thatI'm going to run for trustee.
If you would have asked me I'mgoing to run for trustee six
months ago I would have told youno, but because of the
leadership and the vision thathe has and getting to know Jim
and just we have a great teamhere.
(06:36):
And so if you believe in thevision that we have, I'd say
vote for us, just go ahead andspeak through your vote and
we'll get to work.
So thank you.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Last.
I'm Jim Roberts.
I've lived in the buildingsince 1990.
I moved in with my wife, peggyover here, and my three
daughters.
At the time my youngest one wasthree days old.
So they've grown up here.
They're all married with ninegrandkids now.
So life in Moketa has beengreat.
Love it here.
This is my career, retirementin 2019.
(07:17):
So just to tell you quickly howI got up here, frank and I had
been talking about internetservices in the village and how
expensive they've gotten andthat I consider it a utility
nowadays, just like we used tothink about a phone in a house,
kids were learning at home andall that, and they needed the
internet.
So it's pretty expensive.
(07:37):
So how are we going to do that?
So I talked to him aboutclassifying as a utility doing a
study, whatever it would take.
Maybe we could get grant moneyto figure out how to build an
infrastructure for Internet forthe people of Molkina.
And so we had a fewconversations and out of nowhere
you know, frank calls and sayshey, I got an opening on the
(07:57):
board and I was like, wow,that's a solid money number one.
So, anyway, so I agreed to doit and on November 11th I was
sworn in as a trustee.
So I've been on the board aboutfour months and you know when I
then he talked me into this,running also this on top of it.
(08:19):
But being on the board for fourmonths, I tell you what it's an
eye-opener.
People that are in the villagethat aren't engaged have no idea
what's going on in the village.
There's stuff being built allover the village.
Every corner of the village hasgot something going on and
we've got opponents that saynothing's going on.
We need new leadership and Ican tell you I've had Frank how
(08:43):
many hours have you?
And I talked Probably in thehundreds by now right Yesterday
myself and Nick came in.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, yesterday we were here for two hours, and the
ideas that we came up with wereunbelievable.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Right, and the thing about Nick was, you know, I
didn't know Nick and we startedtalking and found out that Nick
thinks the same way we do.
You know, I'm like twice hisage, probably over twice his age
, but here's this guy.
He thinks just like we do.
So all this made me want to run, yeah, yeah.
So I decided to run again andas Nick was talking about
(09:16):
traffic studies and other stuffyou have to do in the village,
you know, in order to get grantmoney you have to do these
studies.
Yeah, and these studies take along time and sometimes it seems
like nothing's gettingaccomplished.
But you know, you could do astudy and it might take a year
to get a study back, maybelonger, and it seems like for a
year you've just been sitting onyour hands with no progress.
(09:37):
But ultimately, if you look at,you know, 191st last year, they
resurfaced it that was donewith grant money.
Their 191st last year theyresurfaced it that was done with
grant money.
Their study's done.
We get grant money and we do it.
Right now we're getting readyto do this summer we're going to
be doing LaForte Road over here.
It's the same thing you do astudy and you get grant money,
because without the grant moneywe would have to tax at much
(09:59):
higher rates than we do to getthe infrastructure done all the
time.
Over the last couple years,we've redone the water treatment
plant.
Nobody's taxes went up.
We did it.
We built a new policedepartment.
Nobody's taxes went up.
All was saved, all has beenpaid for.
The village is.
(10:20):
You know, when I say what am Irunning, what can I improve?
I tell you what.
The financial, the physicalresponsibility in this village
is absolutely incredible.
That's one of the lowest taxrates of anybody around and
everything that goes on in thatvillage the first thing is
considered is the residents andthe burden that we would put on
them.
And we have to find ways to payfor stuff without burdening our
(10:43):
community.
And that's my philosophy,that's Frank's philosophy,
nick's philosophy.
Everyone here can say our taxbills are too high, our property
taxes are too high and as avillage we're aware of that.
We're aware of that and we knowthat we cannot raise taxes.
We have to find a way to bephysically responsible to get
(11:05):
the infrastructure in thevillage that's needed.
Our number one revenue sourcein the village is sales tax and
we are constantly aware of thatand constantly knowing that we
need more businesses in thevillage, and the right kind of
businesses in the village.
You know Front Street.
When I moved in in 1990, theywere talking about Front Street.
(11:28):
You've got to do all this stuffon Front Street.
It's going to be gorgeous.
35 years later, you know we'vedone nothing.
I mean I shouldn't say we'vedone nothing.
There's new buildings, there'sstuff, and not to the pace that
you would think in 35 years.
You know, and, as I've told,think in 35 years.
You know, and as I told frankand them, you know, as a sitting
(11:50):
on the board and being part ofthe governors of moquina, it's
our job to make downtownaccessible.
Yeah, for the public, whetherthey're driving there, they want
to ride a bike there, they wantto jog there.
However, they want to get downthere to make it easy for them
and their family to go downtown.
Myself I prefer to see themwalk or ride, so I'm into more
(12:20):
bike paths and trails at Yunkersto get us into downtown, yeah,
ways people can access downtownas a family easy, and so part of
my thought in downtown isopening up the access points,
making it easier to get in andout of Mokena, downtown Mokena
and hopefully then run somefairs for businesses that we
would like to come to see.
Come to downtown Mokena andcourt them, work them as a group
, and that's how I envisionedour downtown eventually getting
(12:45):
done.
We have a TIF area.
If you're not familiar withTIFs, the downtown area is a TIF
area.
I'm not personally fond of TIFs, but when you have an area
that's as distressed as a lot ofthose buildings, we're just not
going to find investors come inand all that stuff.
So the TIF is a good way tosubsidize that and get people
(13:06):
that are interested in comingdown.
In the next four years, if I'melected and Nick's elected,
that's kind of like what one ofour guidances is going to be.
So I think that's pretty muchwhere our visions are.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Just to give you an idea, remember when he came to
that board meeting.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Remember what you said to me afterwards about the
downtown, about the boards.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Yeah, you want me to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Please.
I think it's important that thepeople know where we're at.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So when we decided that we were going to give
Mokina a second shot, a secondlook, I said I'm going to go to
a board meeting, I'm just goingto, you know, covertly, just go.
I actually sat right next toJimmy Schlegel.
I don't know if you rememberthat was the first time I met
Jim and I heard the mayor talkabout having a viable downtown.
(14:05):
Because that's what we plannedto do.
We plan to make Mokena have aviable downtown because the
people here deserve it.
I got up, I walked out, calledmy brother.
I said we're going to come toMokena.
So that's all I needed to hearis to have a leader who believes
in businesses and smallbusinesses and buying local and
(14:30):
making the path just a littlebit easier for people who have
dreams and passions aboutopening up a business and to
know that they have a villagethat's behind them, is going to
be a wind behind them, to givethem some momentum because you
need some serious momentum whenyou open up a business for the
first time and to know that wenot only have received that but
(14:51):
we have a mayor who believes incultivating that and fostering
those kind of relationshipsmoving forward.
So I'm really excited, you guys.
So I can't wait to see whathappens here in April.
But, more than anything, I justwant to get to work.
I want to see who we're goingto be working with.
I want to see who we're goingto be working with, and I think
(15:11):
that's super important.
Whoever ends up in these spotsis only going to be as
successful as their ability tocollaborate and work with the
people that they're in it with,and so I'm really excited about
that.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And yeah thank you, I'm glad you brought that up,
because now it's election time,so everybody wants a downtown.
Yeah, everybody wants adowntown.
But the person I'm runningagainst said we'll never have a
downtown.
We'll never have a downtown.
Let the developers come in anddecide what they're going to
(15:44):
build.
Can you imagine that?
Let the developers come in anddecide what they're going to
build in our town and we won'thave a plan.
I don't think he's a bad guy.
I just don't think heunderstands how to run a village
and we don't need that.
We're bringing Molkina into the20th century, 24th century.
(16:08):
Let's not go backwards, into1990.
And I'm telling you that'swhere they'll bring us, because
they have no idea what it takesto move forward in this town.
In the short time I worked withJim, nick and Kim, they
(16:29):
understand it right off the bat.
They know exactly what we'retalking about.
They're on the same page andthey've never done this before.
So it's not brain surgery, it'sjust common sense.
And if you haven't helped meout to this point, you're never
going to help me out.
That's why I need, in order toget the job done, I need the
(16:49):
three people I'm running withand I promise you you will get a
downtown.
You will get around downtown,it will get started and we'll
move forward on it and it'sgoing to be a good downtown.
Just think about it.
How many communities would loveto have their downtown next to
Mr Younger's farm, next to aforest preserve?
(17:11):
Can you imagine that?
I mean the setup we have here.
We should have started this along, long time ago.
What the heck were they waitingfor?
I'll tell you they can't make adecision to save their life.
That's what it was.
They're not bad people.
They just can't make decisions.
That's all Because we need tomove forward.
(17:33):
We can't sit here the people inthis town.
When I did a poll I did twopolls Four years ago.
I took a poll 70% of the peoplewanted a viable downtown.
I took a poll four years later70% of the people want a viable
downtown.
I don't know where these peoplegot their information or who
(17:58):
they were talking to, butthey've been 100% wrong for all
these years.
It's time to get that town freeresidence.
You pay enough in taxes.
We've got to give backsomething.
We've got to give backsomething Someplace to go,
someplace to bring your kids to,someplace that you want to ride
your bikes to and Some placethat you want to ride your bikes
to and run into one of yourfriends there with your family.
That's what we need here.
(18:19):
We've got to get you a downtownand I promise we'll do that.
I might not see the end of it,but I'm going to get it started.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
I promise you that.
Nick will see the end of it.
You know, when we first movedin my daughters they used to
come up to us.
They'd go Dad who ordered that?
And what would they used to saythey want to walk uptown with
their friends.
You know, uptown and this isthe 1990-91, you know we thought
uptown there was like apharmacy and a little store with
(18:51):
some candy or whatever, andthat was their thing.
I would love to have placeslike that where kids today would
say I want to go uptown and getan ice cream or get a candy bar
or whatever.
I'm not even sure if you'd geta candy bar on Front Street
today.
Maybe you can, I'm not surewhere.
(19:12):
But is there a place?
No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
When Lori and I moved out here 48 years ago, there
was actually more businessdowntown than there is now.
We bought ski jackets from aplace downtown and there was
other things going on down there.
People have got to understand.
To open up a business now,especially a restaurant, you're
(19:39):
paying three quarters of amillion dollars to outfit their
restaurant.
If you don't feel like theboard is really, really wants
you there, you're not going toinvest that money.
We've got to let people knowthat we're serious about the
downtown, just like Frankfurtdid.
(20:00):
That's the way they did it.
The board made a commitment.
Everybody knew there was acommitment there and Frankfurt's
downtown grew.
That's what's going to happento Mokina.
We get up there and let peopleknow that we're behind them.
We try to give them some formsof incentive to get started and
they know that the board isbehind them.
You'll get downtown.
I promise you you'll getdowntown we've had conversations
(20:23):
.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
You know, if we're fortunate to be elected, we're
going to put an agenda togetheron the front side, frank's going
to present it at the meeting,and to our administrators which
I want to add to present it atthe meeting and to our
administrators, which I want toadd to our administrators in the
village.
If you don't know them, theseare some of the most fantastic
people I've known in my life.
I have never been around somany people that only know how
(20:45):
to smile.
You walk in there I'm not kenyawhether it's john, our
administrator, our, our attorney, uh, the clerkks working behind
the counter, they haveabsolutely phenomenal,
phenomenal personalities.
Yeah, I tell you what I wish I,whoever hired all those people,
I wish I'd have had them backin the day hiring people to work
for me.
They are, they are really, theyare class people.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know what somebody told me, jim, one thing
I've learned over the years ifyou're in any position like me
being the mayor, you get a goodnumber one and he makes you look
awful good.
And that's what I did.
I got somebody that knew whathe was doing and I just stood
back and watched him do his job.
And he hired people, he broughtpeople on and, like Jim says
(21:32):
please, this is not a slam atany past staff, but this is the
best staff that we've ever hadat Mokena.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
These people are good .
These are really unbelievablepeople and coming on the board
at the time I did in November,towards the end of a four-year
term, I didn't really know.
Obviously I wasn't engaged, Ididn't know what was going on in
the village.
All of a sudden I'm sitting onthe board and they're wanting me
to vote on stuff.
But I got John, I got Carl theattorney.
They're calling me and they'rewalking me through the history
(22:04):
of the projects that are comingin front of the board.
So you know I'm not maybe thebrightest guy in the world, but
I caught on pretty quickly whatthey were talking about.
They were calling me every weekon Friday and talking about
next week's agenda.
I made sure I read it insideand out a couple times, used the
yellow highlighter because Iknew I was going to get a call,
(22:30):
and they gave me the backstopfor all the stuff going on that
I was going to see every week tomake sure I was fully informed,
because I felt to sit up thereand just say, well, I don't know
enough about that to vote.
I thought that was kind of acop-out.
So these guys, they wereamazing, absolutely amazing,
bringing me up to date intowhat's going on in the village.
(22:51):
Let me tell you there's so muchgoing on in the village.
I mean it's very active Betweenthe executive sessions, the
workshop sessions and the otherthings going on.
There's developers.
There's people there almostevery week talking about what
they want to do in the villageas far as development.
So we're not dying here, we'regrowing.
Unfortunately, some of theareas we're not growing quick
(23:12):
enough is what people notice themost and that's downtown.
They drive by that and theystop there and they go.
Well, it's the same old place.
It was 35 years ago.
It's improved over the years,but we've got a ways to go there
.
I tell you, frank's been ingovernance of some level for a
(23:33):
long time but he's got a goodhandle on what goes on.
It's his agenda that's gettingpassed.
He creates the agenda.
I don't do it, nobody else doesit, and so the things that
happen in the village happen andthey go through him.
I had some things on my agendawhen they put me on the board
and I quickly found out throughthe administrators that anything
(23:55):
I want done on my agenda, I gotto go to this guy first.
So that's how I learned rightaway that what's going on in the
village is because Frank's isputting it out there and he's
setting the agenda and hedoesn't take credit for stuff he
does, but he just stays steadyand just does it, and that's the
way I like to plan.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Take a few questions.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, I think it's time.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah, jim.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Jim Slayton, I'm gonna hope this will be
bipartisan right.
My goal is, I think I want tosee 52% of the registered voters
come out and vote.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And.
Speaker 5 (24:36):
I think that this is going to be the best election
that I think you've ever had ina, and I've always referred to
Ed, but every candidate has aqualification.
I think is the highest.
I would not mind having it formy neighbor.
We haven't said that in thepast.
(24:57):
We wouldn't want them for aneighbor.
We make this agreement, but Ithink everyone, everybody
running, would make a greatneighbor.
They're not a great, whatever.
The other issue is that there'sbeen money spent on this, with
signs, with meetings like this.
I mean, mokina has never beenmore engaged in this and I think
(25:25):
that the issue is, no matterwhat side of the fence you are,
80% is for change.
The difference is the 20%.
How to get to change.
That's where the difference is.
However, there's going to belike I say I want 52% because
there's going to be anotherperson in that ballot that's
(25:46):
going to have to win, andnormally in elections like this
in election years, we want toget 15% to 17% for the
registered voters that come out.
I think it's going to be afalse race.
I think if we have a 17 percentturnout, one side wins by 10,
one side wins by 7,.
(26:07):
We can't have change unless wehave people who we believe.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Is there a question in there, Jimmy?
I?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
understand.
We need to get everybody out ofthe boat.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Understood, understood, but is there a
question in there, jimmy?
Speaker 5 (26:24):
The question.
All I'm saying is we need toget everybody out of the boat.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I don't think anything in there.
Absolutely, absolutely, jimmy.
I've been saying that for 10elections, for 10 things Getting
the people out, and you'reright.
I don't know how to get themout.
You can't go to a house andpull them out by their ear.
Do the best you can, jim.
(26:50):
That's all you can do.
Does anybody else have aquestion?
Sure, do the best you can, jim.
That's all you can do.
Does anybody else have aquestion?
Yes, sure, I know you're goingto be circling too much on this,
but I'm really thinking back towhat you said.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
How a leader needs to vote for the entire state If
some are elected, others are not.
How do you plan to handle thosedifficult conversations?
How do you shape your leadsduring the four weeks and how do
you move forward when yourschool edits?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I've been doing it for 12 years.
I've been doing it for 12 yearswith a board that was very hard
to work with.
So you learn how to do it.
You learn how to get somethingdone.
We're not really a slate okay,we're a pack.
We're a group of people thatfeel that we could do a good job
.
Mokina's future is not a slate,but we're running together
(27:47):
because we have respect for eachother, so we will not be
grouped together on the ballot.
So we're going to have Sue andyou, jim, on the bottom for the
four-year terms, you're going tobe the second one on the
two-year term and I'll be thesecond one in the mayor's
(28:07):
position.
But that's all you can do.
You get up there and you do thebest you can.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, I think if I could say something, just having
business partners of my own, wedon't always see eye to eye and
I think what has made thateasier for us is shared vision.
Before you enter into a newendeavor, you have to have a
true north.
You have to have something thateveryone agrees on, like that's
(28:38):
essential.
And if you can agree on thatvision, then when there's
disagreements, we can kind ofsay if we go this route, is that
going to move the needletowards where we want to get to?
If we go this route, is thatgoing to move?
And if the answer is no, butsomebody says no I think it
should be yes then we just needto talk that out and make a
(28:59):
decision based on if that'sgoing to bring us to the vision
that we've all agreed upon wewant to see actualized.
So it's not a perfect system,but it's a way for us to at
least say hey, this is going tobe collaborative, we want it to
be collaborative.
There are going to bedisagreements.
We're not going to see eye toeye on everything, but if we
can't come to an agreementthrough conversations and
(29:21):
humility, then we vote andthat's how we get it done when
we can't get it done throughconversation, we vote and yeah,
so that's a great question.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yeah, to add to that, just for you know, if, if by
chance, we end up with splittickets which possible, who
knows what the heck's going tohappen?
Yeah, it's still going to be upto the trustees to go to whoever
the elected mayor or the mayorthat got elected to go to who
maybe wasn't on his ticket, togo out and reach out to them,
see what their agendas are, howthey can work the agenda
together, because, at the end ofthe day, if whoever's elected
(29:56):
mayor doesn't bring a solidagenda to the board, then we're
talking about status quo forfour more years.
There has to be an agenda thathas to start on day one about
what the trustees that areelected and the mayor that's
elected, what direction theywant to go and what they want to
accomplish, because four yearsis not a lot of time to start
(30:18):
talking about things.
If you're not locked into well,I'm going to do a traffic study
, I want to do this kind ofstudy If you're not locked into
doing those things prettyquickly, then a lot of things
that we talk about can't happen.
They won't happen, because theycan only then happen is if we
raised your taxes and paid forit ourselves.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And we talked here the other day and Jim and Nick
are right on we need a trafficstudy to get it started, to fill
in everything else.
How's that traffic on Wolf Roadand LaGrange Road doing for you
?
Traffic on Wolf Road andLaGrange Road doing for you?
(30:56):
And it's going to get nothingbut worse unless we have a
traffic study that shows us howto move traffic.
And again, I'm sorry, I hate tosound like a broken record, but
I've been trying to get thattraffic study for 12 years but I
can't get that traffic studydone and that's something that
is needed.
That traffic study should befirst so we know how to fit the
(31:18):
comp plan in, and then thedowntown.
So that's extremely importantand I'm getting sick over the
years, of taking the blame forsomething that I can't get the
board to do.
It's just that simple.
I know the buck stops here, butI can only do so much.
(31:39):
I bring it up, you know, as anagenda item.
They have to sit there and voteon it.
I'm stuck if they don't give methe yes vote and that's got to
stop.
This has got to be it.
I'm telling you this has got tobe it because Mokina is at a
crossroads, and I'll tell youwhat the people we're running
(32:00):
against will take us backwards.
I guarantee that we are notgoing to go forward anymore.
If the four of us lose thiselection, mokina is going to be
in trouble, and I'm not beingdramatic, I'm being truthful.
It's just that simple, folks.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I just want to thank everybody real quick for coming
out tonight.
I didn't get a chance to talkto all of you, but I appreciate
everyone that's here and it'skind of a cold, rainy night.
But we're going to pick ourbest friends up from the airport
here and I don't know how longthey'll want to wait for me.
But I hate to run out on youwithout thanking everyone for
being here.
(32:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Two weeks from now.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yep, I'm a blake.
Okay, hold on a second, so yeah.
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