Flossmoor residents to elect first female mayor
Incumbent leader Paul Braun retiring after a dozen years
The first woman in the nearly 100-year history of Flossmoor will be elected mayor in April when Michelle Nelson and Dr. Lakshi Emory face off for the office as incumbent Mayor Paul Braun steps down after 12 years.
Flossmoor turns 100 in 2024, and both candidates would like to be there to lead the celebration.
“Of course, I would love to be the first woman as mayor,” Nelson said. “It would be extremely exciting, but I would like to focus more on being the right person at the right time for the job.”
Emory has a similar take.
“It would be exciting, but Flossmoor is at a pivotal point in its history,” she said. “We have a lot of potential and we need to make sure we have the right leadership in place.”
Nelson, who worked in civil engineering for seven years, has a keen interest in the village’s infrastructure. She acknowledged that many voters do not have a huge interest in infrastructure, but they do like the tangible results.
“I think they are interested in being able to drive their cars safely through town,” she said. “And they want their kids to be able to ride their bikes safely in town. They are interested in safety for sure. They may not be interested in the mechanics of it, but they want it to be done.”
Nelson is not happy the village received a 5.9 score out of 10 from the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating system in 2017 and said that figure could be lower now after perusing the 2017 Pavement Management Report from engineering consultants Baxter and Woodman.
“The study says we should be resurfacing 2 ½ miles of road per year,” Nelson said. “We have only been resurfacing for a mile to a mile and a half.”
She also said maintenance of a 50-year sewer system is not up to par and that has caused residential property damage.
“We want our residents to be able to come home and enjoy where they live and not worry about cleaning up a mess caused by a lack of maintenance,” she said.
Nelson wants to see the village improve on how it hands out bids and is favor of awarding bids to minority-owned businesses and services. She plans on developing a Flossmoor Economic Development Commission and reinstate business incentives.
Emory has been visiting with residents in recent weeks and said she has heard numerous residential flooding complaints.
“It’s interesting because it came up a lot in areas you wouldn’t expect like Flossmoor Hills and Heather Hill,” Emory said. “You rarely hear about the flooding issues over there. It tells me that we need to look at the entire village and to make sure we are hearing from everyone.”
Emory said people are not happy about property taxes but some seemed satisfied after she explained how only about 15% goes to the village with most going to schools.
“I have to say the current board has done a great job keeping taxes down,” Emory said.
She said she was puzzled that businesses do not have to go through a license process and said she would like to put in a registration system where the village can keep a record of how many businesses are in town and to make sure there are no “unseemly” businesses.
She said she will also work hard to make sure that businesses get local, state and federal money for income lost due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Emory, doctor who became a health care executive, has served on the Illinois COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force and said her work there helped drive an interest to be mayor.
Nelson is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and attended the University of Illinois before moving into the Chicago area. She said she took Metra trips to University Park and fell in love with the community when the train stopped in the village.
Emory was born in San Diego and attended Dartmouth College and the UIC before coming to the area. She said her grandparents and other relatives moved from Tulsa to San Diego to escape the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.
She said that even though she had 3,000 patients at one time as a physician, she still wants to do more for people.
There are four candidates running for three Village Board seats, including incumbent Brian Driscoll, village clerk Joni Bradley-Scott, Gary Daggett and David Walano. George W. Lofton III is running unopposed for a two-year term. No candidate has filed to run for clerk.