ELGIN – From now through April 9, Edgewater residents have the chance to choose the next supervisor of Elgin Township. The role of supervisor includes serving as chairman of the township board of trustees, supervising general assistance programs, and acting as treasurer of township funds.
Elgin Township Supervisor Annette Miller (Photo Provided)
The candidates running are current supervisor, Republican Annette Miller, and Democratic candidate June Wooten.
Miller has worked in the township for 26 years, starting as a case worker and later becoming an administrative assistant. In 2005, Miller was appointed supervisor after the previous supervisor passed away, and in 2009, she was elected to her second term.
Miller said her focus for her next term would be keeping the township’s budget balanced and maintaining a low tax levy while providing the same level, if not higher, of service to residents. Currently, Elgin Township accounts for less than one percent of residents’ property tax bills, according to Miller.
Elgin Township also froze its tax levy in 2012 for the first time in at least seven years. Miller attributed this decision to the poor economy and near double-digit unemployment rate in the area last year. Though she hopes to maintain service levels under the static tax levy, Miller acknowledged it would be a challenge.
Along with the township assessor and highway commissioner, Miller proposed that she and other township officials had their salaries frozen for the next four years. The measure passed, and Miller’s salary was frozen at $83,000.
Among the township initiatives Miller is most proud of are its efforts to aid seniors. One of these is a discount prescription drug card program started in 2012 through Coast2CoastRX. These cards, swiped during purchases, save an average of 50 percent on drugs. Seniors can pick up a card at the township office or Senior Services Associates in Elgin.
“We’ve wanted to pursue expanding our recycling; we have a really successful battery recycling program that we’ve had for a year,” Miller said.
Last year, that program was able to recycle 19,000 pounds of batteries. Miller said she and the township have looked into cost-effective ways to handle electronics recycling as well.
“We try to really do a wide variety of things,” she said.
June Wooten, Democratic challenger for Elgin Township Supervisor (Photo Provided)
Challenging Miller is June Wooten. Wooten’s experience includes 22 years of work for Kane County with the States Attorney’s Office and the last 11 years in the Health Department. Wooten said her background as a coordinator for victim services with the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program and work as a legal advocate for victims of sexual abuse gives her insight into those served by general assistance programs. Wooten now works part time for the Ecker Center for Mental Health, a job she would keep if elected, as she plans on earning clinical hours and becoming a licensed clinical social worker.
On Miller’s work as supervisor, Wooten said she would continue the low tax rates set by the township and agreed with the tax levy freeze, though she questioned why 2012 was the first year for a freeze when the economy had been sour for the past several years.
Wooten sees room for improvement through making Elgin Township more visible and moving it “into the 21st century.” To accomplish this, she seeks to increase the content available on the township website and move the township toward being paperless.
“As I go knocking on doors, a lot of our residents don’t even know that the township exists, let alone the services it provides,” she said.
As for those services, Wooten would like to see them become more efficient by having the township work more closely with the city of Elgin and Kane County to determine what services each offer and which overlapping services can be streamlined or combined so as to save money and resources.
As a Democrat, this is an area where Wooten acknowledged her views as somewhat “controversial.” She is aware of the criticism township governments face and the arguments made on why they should be consolidated into municipalities or counties.
“There is still a need for townships, but not as much as before,” she said.
Wooten believes townships “fill a gap” in the community by providing general assistance and has no intention to cut back in that area but does think the size of Elgin Township could decrease and that the assessor’s job could be done on a municipal level.
When asked why an Edgewater resident should vote for her, Wooten responded with the following:
“Fresh ideas. I think in my various roles throughout the county I think I am the better qualified candidate at this point in time. We need to be able to evaluate everything that we do and put it into perspective of ‘Does it meet the goals, needs, [and] objectives of what it’s trying to meet?’” she said.
Miller’s pitch and campaign speaks to her work in her previous two terms:
“I work a lot with the residents of Elgin, and I’m born and raised in Elgin, so I just think it’s to give back, to make it run efficiently. And I think I do a good job, so I think the residents are getting a really a good value for low taxes and good services, and I’d like to keep that for our residents,” she said.
To vote
Early voting sites:
Edgewater
Creekside Lodge
April 4 from noon to 6 p.m.
Elgin Township
729 S. McLean Blvd.
March 25-28 and April 1-4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
