Voters face contested Will County Board races
Will County voters in the Southland have two contested county board races on the ballot this fall in an election that could change the makeup of the 26member board, with 11 people to be chosen among six districts.
Those districts will be redrawn by the new board based on the results of the 2020 census.
District 1
In District 1, which includes Monee, Crete, Peotone, Will and Washington townships, incumbent Sherry Newquist, a Democrat from Steger, is seeking election to a seat shewas appointed to in 2019. Republican Amy Perez is also running in that race.
Newquist, 64, served on the Steger Village Board and the Steger-South Chicago Heights Public Library Board before her appointment last year.
Perez, 39, was slated by the Republicans as a candidate for District 1 after another candidate dropped out of the race.
A proposed airport in Peotone, to serve as Chicago’s third regional airport, has long been a topic of discussion in the district. Earlier this year, the mayors of Hazel Crest, Mattson, University Park and Kankakee voiced support for a third airport along with other elected state representatives and Cook
County officials. Will
County Board members, however, have historically expressed opposition to the project.
“I will fight for that to never happen,” said Perez. “It’s not good for the environment and it would hurt a lot of farmers here and a lot of our food sources.”
While Newquist said she once thought a third airport would be an economic engine for the region, she now questions if the project will ever come to fruition.
“At this point, the way it’s been managed so far … I’d have to ask some hard questions and get information to determine if it’s beneficial to the area,” she said, saying the state buying up farmland in the airport footprint and letting it sit was awful.
Both Perez and New quist listed truck traffic and warehouse development as a concern for their district and the entire county.
Newquist said she would be in favor of reviving plans for the Illiana toll road to help reroute truck traffic. She also said while warehouse developments could be a good source of jobs, they need to balance against the need to maintain open space. But she noted most proposed developments fall under the jurisdiction of municipalities.
Perez echoed similar sentiments and said the county should try to lure better paying jobs in manufacturing over warehousing and distribution center jobs.
Perez also was critical of a 4-cent countywide gas tax enacted late last year. The vote to approve the tax went largely along party lines, with most Democrats, including Newquist, supporting it.
“I’m not a fan of unnecessary tax hikes,” Perez said.
Newquist defended her vote for the gas tax, saying the money is needed to improve the roadways and bridges.
Perez also said she would work to repeal the gas tax approved by county board members late last year.
District 12
In District 12, two Democrats are challenging two incumbent Republicans for the two open seats on the board. The district includes New Lenox Township and part of Frankfort Township.
Incumbent Tom Weigel, 77, a New Lenox Republican, was first elected in 2004. Frankie Pretzel, 41, also a New Lenox Republican, hopes to join Weigel.
Democrats Erin Moncek, 38, of New Lenox, and Jo Anne Hamilton- Gunkel, 65, of Mokena, are trying to win seats in a district that has been held by Republicans in recent years.
“I just felt like it was a time for a change in the voice of our board representation,” Hamilton-Gunkel said.
While Weigel supports having new members, he said there is a benefit to having some longer tenured members.
“I think there’s value to having older members who have been around for a while and who know how county government works and what we can and can’t do,” Weigel said.
Truck traffic is a particular concern to the candidates, who all support more study to develop designated routes to keep truck traffic out of residential areas. Candidates also said they supported the county’s efforts to address the opioid crisis.
Hamilton-Gunkel and Moncek also expressed a desire for more public health services in their area and said bringing more affordable housing to the county would be a priority.
“We need to make sure we’re doing our best to provide affordable housing to everyone we can,” Moncek said. “We live in a great community and we want to make sure everyone feels as though they can be a part of this community and live in housing that best suits their family.”
Pretzel said the county board can help struggling families by holding the line on taxes.
Describing himself as a fiscal conservative, Pretzel said he would work to repeal the county’s 4-cent gas tax.
“It impacts our lowest income residents and small businesses the most,” he said. “I don’t think we have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”
Weigel also said he would not support tax increases and would not support a tax levy that allowed the county to tax to the consumer price index rate. Hewould, however, support a levy that allowed the county to take advantage of new property growth.
Pretzel also said he would support building a county government center on the grounds of the old courthouse, which board members have said would be demolished once the new courthouse opens next month.