Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the Feb. 25 primary election.
The Democratic primary election for Aurora Township trustee includes seven candidates running for four spots on the April 1 general election ballot.
The primary election is set for Feb. 25.
The candidates running in the Democratic primary for Aurora Township trustee include Jerria Donelson, Sherry Spears, Mansa Latham Williams, Danny Taylor, Bonnie Lee Kunkel and incumbents Samuel Nunez and Dolores Hicks.
Donelson, 46, of Aurora, said this is her first time running for township trustee and that the three issues residents are concerned about include “worrying about their properties, their homes and how to maintain them” as well as how to acquire resources in the community and “seeing more programs for the youth to keep them occupied and develop themselves.”
The issue with property, Donelson said, “is that there are programs out there but if you’re over-income qualified – there’s not a lot of resources” for those in the middle.
“There’s no money to help do repairs on their homes or if the property taxes have gone up they’re not able to afford that,” she said. “It’s having the resources for the middle class.”
Regarding resources, “people don’t know where to start to find them and Aurora has so many resources,” Donelson said. “The crazy thing is, anything that you’re looking for, you can get help but people just don’t know where to go.”
Youth programs are important because without them, Donelson said, “kids can find trouble.”
If elected to the township board, Donelson wants to focus on “partnering with community organizations that are already doing work to help get their message out.”
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are a lot of resources that are already here, we just need to partner up and strengthen them and that way we can better serve the community,” she said.
Donelson also wants to work on “increasing our home ownership rate.”
“Not the homeowners but the home buyers and making sure there is affordable housing in Aurora,” she said.
Spears, 54, of Aurora, said this is her first time running for township trustee and that issues among voters include “a lack of knowledge about programs offered, fairness with grants and youth funds and an easier process for being approved for services at the township.”
“People don’t know how to access the web and, overall, there’s not enough advertising,” Spears said. “There needs to be more publicity because people don’t know what’s out there.”
In regards to grants, Spears said that “there are lots of groups of people in Aurora who are out on foot, serving meals and doing well-being checks in Aurora” but there are many “who are not getting a chance to apply for grants and being chosen fairly.”
“I believe there is favoritism and there’s isn’t a fair way to access grant money,” she said.
Accessing services needs to be streamlined, Spears said, “as I personally know of more than three dozen people who have gone to the township (for services) and they are being denied.”
“If these people are being denied, what is going on with the money?,” she said.
If elected, Spears said she wants to get more people engaged in programs and services as well as “come in with transparency and also make sure the funds are going to the appropriate people that are supposed to receive them.”
“As far as the township, I would like to see more fairness and people aware of services and I have a lot of ideas so that we can be a bridge in the community,” she said.
Regarding transparency, Spears believes there should be “more advertising of the meetings to the public,” adding there should also be “more transparency and openness in how they distribute the funding.”
Taylor, 63, of Aurora, said this is his first time running for township trustee and that people are talking about senior services, youth programming and services for the rest of the population in general.
“Regarding services for seniors, voters would like to have them continue,” he said. “The township is already supporting them, but people would like to have more programming – funds for programs.”
Regarding youth programs, Taylor said that “people want to see those programs grow.”
“Voters would like to see the youth programs become better,” he said. “It’s going pretty well, but they would like to see them become better and make sure we are using the funds correctly.”
General services including Ride in Kane as well as general assistance programs and others “where there’s a summer lawn program and snow removal – there are things that the township can do and people would like a little more of things like that,” Taylor said.
If elected, Taylor said he wants to work on the same issues voters have spoken about and said there are a few other things needing attention.
“The senior services program needs to flourish a little more and for the people to know it’s available, he said. “We need to improve exposure to programming.”
Taylor said “there should always be transparency” and that, in regards to funds, “the allocation of funds should go where they’re needed.”
“But those funds need to go where they are needed the most,” he said. “I want to be a person who is open and honest with what’s happening.”
Williams, 38, of Aurora, is also running for trustee for the first time and said that issues in the township include “a solution for seniors to age in place” as well as “getting young people active in the community, along with jump-starting our economy with technology.”
“For our seniors, they are the loneliest population and seniors and adults with seniors living with them and heading into retirement are looking for alternatives to nursing homes,” he said.
Voters, he insists, “also want solutions to get our young people motivated and active in the community and have opportunities.”
He also said that voters are talking about getting better-paying technology jobs in the area.
“People want better-paying jobs with technology as well as the education needed to do them,” he said.
If elected, he wants to work on creating “independent shared living programs to help seniors age in place gracefully.”
He also wants to focus on young people in the township.
“We need to be getting our young people active in the community,” he said.
He also wants to create groups “to upskill and help Aurora voters enter the digital tech” industries.
Hicks, 86, is seeking her fifth term as a township trustee and said issues in the township among voters include taxes, the tax levy and “the assistance the township gives to residents.”
“I think the township has done a good job keeping the taxes level. Like our tax levy, we don’t increase things much and maintain our levels, and I think the residents like that,” Hicks said. “Even though most voters are OK with the taxes, they still come to the meetings to see if we’ve made any changes. They are concerned about it because they don’t want to see too much of a change.”
In regards to the tax levy, Hicks said it also “stays at a level people have no problem with, but we want to maintain that.”
“The issue is that the levy also not go up,” she said.
Regarding local assistance, Hicks said the township is “good with that but there are some requirements, of course.”
“There will be people, every once in a while, where they didn’t get the service, but it has to do with their application,” she said. “They do have to apply and be eligible in order to do that. We help people with their rent so I think being visible is important. Sometimes, people don’t know about the offerings of the township.”
If reelected, Hicks said she has a few key interests including a “main goal of seeing the township continue to grow.”
“Sometimes, we’re at a standstill and I want to see more growth. I’ve been there long enough to know the ins and the outs, and I do a lot, not only with seniors, but with youth,” she said. “Our youth center needs some changes. I will hopefully see that happen because our kids need us and we serve kids more of a lower income level than other places, and I want to see that promoted more.”
Hicks also spoke about seniors, adding that “there is a youth and senior commission and I’d like to see the commission do a little more for the seniors.”
Kunkel, 66, said she has run for township trustee before and served eight years on the Kane County Board.
She said issues in the township are connected to the issues relating to township business “which is limited to working on the issues of youth, seniors and general assistance.”
“One of the biggest issues is people knowing whether or not they are covered by Aurora Township since a lot of people in the municipality think they’re not but they still are,” Kunkel said.
Being aware of what services are available to them remains an issue, Kunkel added.
“For example, there are some very good programs for seniors but most don’t know that anything is available to them,” she said.
People are “always concerned about money or taxes,” Kunkel adds, noting that “if you really don’t have money and you need general assistance – which is a short-term emergency fund – people care very much about that.”
Youth services in the township are very important, Kunkel said, and remain yet another issue residents want to see continue.
If elected, Kunkel said she wants to work “to make people more aware of the programs available to seniors because I think that is one of the things most lacking.”
Another goal is to “make the financing more transparent.”
Nunez, 33, is seeking his second term as a township trustee and said residents are concerned about general assistance, taxes and investing in youth and senior services.
“We legally have to provide general assistance, assessment of property values, and roads and bridges which is overseen by our Highway Department,” he said. “With general assistance, we’re talking about emergency funding that folks need for rent. Folks have been reaching out for rental assistance with things going up and with inflation, a lot of these folks have not had enough funds to complete their full rent or pay rent at all. We also provide assistance for electric bills and other things if people meet the criterion.”
Taxes, he said, “are all about keeping the levy low.”
Investment in youth, Nunez said, “is because they are our future, specifically in the Aurora community.”
“I am a product of Aurora Township. I worked there at the youth center and I want to reinvest in the community and our seniors that are the most vulnerable part of our population,” he said.
In reelected, Nunez said he wants to focus on many of the same issues including youth “where we have already put a lot of investment into our youth center there at 313 Gale St.”
“Also continuing our after-school programs and building up specifically after-school kid counts and how many are being dropped off,” he said.
Working to keep taxes low, Nunez said, “is part of my job.”
“Nobody wants somebody servicing them who is not making sure that their taxes are staying low,” he said. “That’s the reality of the role I play.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
