Joliet City Council District 1 Candidate Steve Cammack

There are six candidates challenging current Joliet City Councilman Joe Shetina, they are:

IIona Vaughn
Larry E. Hug
Vanessa Romeo
James Lipinski
Donald C. West Jr.
Steve Cammack

Will County News spoke with Candidate Steve Cammack at the recent Informate/Get Informed Candidates Forum.  Cammack said he is running because "we need new leadership in District 1." Cammack said many people living in District 1 have moved to the area in the past 10 years and do not know much about the City Council.

Cammack said "when the City decided to put more rooftops in the West" the city should have planned more to provide more services to that area.  Cammack said the sewer lines serving District 1 are too small and the police and fire response times are too long.   Cammack said he is concerned that there are not enough police patrols in District One.

Cammack said he will take a different approach than the current District One City Councilman; Cammack said he will bring meetings to the district instead of expecting District 1 residents to drive downtown.

Cammack would also work to put the City of Joliet's checkbook online so that anyone could go online and see where the City's money was going.  In his current role as a Plainfield Township Trustee, Cammack said Plainfield Township's checkbook is already online for citizens' review.

Cammack said that if elected he would be accessible to all residents.  He said residents would be able to call him on his cell phone, and while he may not be able to solve residents' problems by the end of the night, Cammack said: "I will call them back by the end of the night."

Joliet City Council District 1 Candidate Larry Hug wants companies to pay local resource use fee for each container that goes through local intermodals

Larry Hug is a candidate for the District One Joliet City Council Seat.  Hug is one of six challengers running against incumbent Joseph Shetina.

Will County News spoke to Hug at the recent Informate/Get Informed Candidate Forum.  When asked about his ideas to fill the city's budget deficit, Hug said he proposes charging a $50 local resource use fee on containers that pass through the intermodals within the boundaries of City of Joliet, such as the Joliet CenterPoint Intermodal.

Hug said if the Joliet-area is going to become "one of the world's closets", then the City should recoup money for the wear and tear increased truck traffic causes on area roads.  Hug said the City should also collect that money to be prepared to react if there were ever a toxic spill from a container.

Hug said if large corporations are going to enjoy all of the rights of individuals (a reference, I believe, to the Citizens United case), then the corporations should also have a right to pay their fair share in fees and contribute to the local economy.

Hug said he also wants to work on performance-based tax breaks for companies that create jobs in Joliet and do a line-by-line audit of the city budget.  Hug said the job-creating tax-break should reach out to mom and pop businesses in Joliet.

Candidates for the City of Joliet District One seat running against incumbent Joseph Shetina are:
IIona Vaughn
Larry Hug
Vanessa Romeo
James Lipinski
Donald C. West Jr.
Steve Cammack