Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of stories looking at contested races in the March 17 primary election.
The Democratic race for the Kane County Board seat in District 2 in the March 17 primary election includes Ellen Nottke, Matthew Dingeldein and Martha Davidson.
The winner will move on to the Nov. 3 general election. There is no candidate on the ballot for the District 2 seat in the Republican primary.
Ellen Nottke
Nottke, 71, of Batavia, is running for the county board for the second time and said that voters in the district are concerned about the future of natural resources, promoting economic stability and balancing the county budget.
In regards to natural resources, Nottke said there is a feeling that “we really need to slow down on solar panels.”
“With all of the solar fields going up, it’s a serious concern as we don’t have a solid plan for recycling these panels that last 30 years, but what happens if they decide to break? How do we dispose of them and protect our environment?” she said. “We don’t have that yet. We don’t know all the problems we’ll face with them.”
Regarding economic issues, Nottke said, “We need to find jobs for the community. We need to be able to put people to work.”
“We’re no longer a bedroom community. We have to strive to bring businesses out to Kane County and not have everybody commute by train or car or whatever,” she said. “We need to keep support people working out here.”
The county budget needs to be balanced “and not on the backs of the taxpayers,” she said.
“As citizens, we try to live within our own means and our elected officials should do the same,” Nottke said.
If elected, Nottke said she wants to focus on the environment and the budget.
“We’re constantly approving data centers which are a great thing as digital hubs are growing fast, but they are too reliant on natural resources,” Nottke said. “They need water and these centers need to be self-sufficient. They need their own water supply, especially in unincorporated areas where we rely on well water.”
Nottke said “working on the budget may be the most important thing” and will also be one of her priorities.
Matthew Dingeldein
Dingeldein, 42, of North Aurora, said this is his first time running for office and said that issues in the district include taxes, housing and public safety.
“Taxes being too high has been a catch-all as a way to get people to pay attention. I know that living in society costs money, and I think the biggest issue we’re having in Kane County is there are no honest conversations about where the money is coming from and where it’s going,” he said. “The board is faced with another revenue shortfall and it will be forced to draw from its reserves to satisfy the budget that was just passed, a trend that is continuing from past years.”
In terms of housing, Dingeldein said people are complaining about it being too expensive.
“New people can’t move in and people that are entrenched can’t afford to go anywhere else,” he said.
Safety involves maintaining the good level of service currently offered, he said.
“North Aurora, in particular, is a nice place to live and we want to make sure our first responders and public safety organizations have the resources to continue it that way,” he said.
If elected, Dingeldein said his goals include working on county finances, environmental sustainability and making sure people have access to outdoor activities.
“I want to get the county on a path to financial sustainability and I think better marketing like the previous initiative about the retail tax that was attempted last fall and just demolished by the referendum,” he said. “I think people still don’t understand where their money needs to come from and where it needs to go. We need honest conversations about spending.”
Environmental issues, Dingeldein said, include “Kane County being a leader in conserving open space and creating alternative spaces for people to learn about the natural environment and I want to make sure that resources are set aside for those projects.”
Dingeldein said he lives just blocks from the Fox River which “is one of my favorite places to go and I want to make sure people have safe routes to get to the river trail by bicycle as well as on foot, in addition to the other amenities that the Forest Preserve District offers.”
Martha Davidson
Davidson, 67, of North Aurora, said this is her first time running for county board and that voters have concerns about the environment and the county budget.
The environment, Davidson said, involves “people being concerned about plastic and they’re not being recycled and going right into the environment.”
“The plastics are not being recycled,” she said. “People are also talking about the dam removal along the Fox River and what the impact will be.”
Davidson says there is still voter fallout from the recent defeat of a sales tax referendum question.
“We had a referendum last year with sales tax in order to fund public safety but people don’t want their taxes any higher,” she said.
“The county is trying to find revenue and they’ve made budget cuts, but they’re still going to be in dire straits because costs are rising on everything and revenue with property taxes is not keeping up,” she said. “They need to find new revenue sources.”
If elected to the county board, Davidson said she wants to focus on increasing transparency and communication and continuing to look at recycling issues.
Transparency and communication always need to be enhanced, Davidson said.
“We need to have more informative details about what’s going on at the board level,” she said.
In terms of the pollution issue, Davidson said she wants “to see if the county has ability to improve the pollution and the plastic bags and all of that stuff” or if it’s more of an issue for an outside agency to tackle.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
