Lora A. Vitek: 2025 candidate for St. Charles mayor

Bio

Office Sought: St. Charles mayor

City: St. Charles

Age: 47

Occupation: Current mayor and executive director of Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation

Previous offices held: Current St. Charles mayor; St. Charles Alderperson 4th Ward (2017-21)

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? Also, what makes you the best candidate for the position?

The role of mayor is not about achieving a personal goal for me, but rather centered on making the city better and making decisions focused on the best interests for the city’s residents and businesses.

I am a dedicated advocate for the City of St. Charles with eight years of municipal government experience, beginning when I was first elected 4th Ward Alderperson in 2017. The most important decisions that affect people are through local government. That’s why I do this. It’s important to me to help people and see the results in the community in which I live. I have the experience and knowledge to keep the city moving in the right direction, including private sector experience.

In my first term, we built upon the progress of my predecessors and St. Charles is thriving under my administration with hard work being executed by our city staff and our council members who have dedicated their time and energy.

Our downtown occupancy rate sits at 95.7%, we have fewer empty storefronts than we did four years ago and our businesses — restaurants and retail — are performing strong. Our industrial business occupancy rate is sitting at 97%, an important factor for job creation in our city.

What is the most serious issue your community will face in coming years and how should leaders respond to it?

I believe the most pressing issue our city is facing in the coming years is the ability to be able to fund necessary infrastructure challenges and unfunded mandates. We are faced with lead pipe replacement, aging infrastructure and higher supply chain costs.

We continue to see reductions from the state in revenue sources like the municipalities' share of income tax that cause us to adjust. The essential question is how do we continue to invest in our city and make necessary improvements without financially burdening our residents.

I believe the answer requires smart, sound economic development and growth so the city may offset these funding eliminations as well as applying for all available grant funding.

I am proud that my administration has reduced our debt obligation by 19% in just my first term. We have created a strong foundation to be able to weather some of these future challenges with strategic planning, but we know there is much more work to be done. I have asked council to continue to engage in discussions on how we can find alternate revenue sources so the city can maintain its level of services our residents expect, while keeping costs down.

How would you describe the state of your community's finances? What should be the top priorities for spending during the next few years? Are there areas of spending that need to be curtailed?

While the city has the benefit of diversified revenue sources, we are no different than every other city when it comes to providing important services that impact residents.

The city has taken a conservative look at our spending to ensure proper use of taxpayer dollars. Our city is in a better financial position now than before I took office.

We have reduced debt from $109 million to $88 million. My administration hired a new finance director who has been working to educate our aldermen about the importance of reducing our debt and keeping costs down.

Top priorities should be infrastructure issues and lead services lines. Additionally, I’d like us to continue with ADA-friendly upgrades for pedestrian access on streets and in neighborhoods. These are necessary projects, some of which have been mandated by state and federal government, and crucial to our city and improved resident experiences. East trunk main will be vital to continue development on the east side, our water main breaks are outpacing our replacement which ultimately requires more staff.

Completing these projects now will help reduce future costs for continued, additional maintenance.

What do you see as the most important infrastructure project you must address? Why and how should it be paid for? Conversely, during these uncertain economic times, what project(s) can be put on the back burner?

I do believe that replacing our lead service lines is essential and vital. It sounds easy to simply delay capital projects, but pushing problems onto future generations isn’t the answer. It’s paramount to upgrade our infrastructure so services can continue uninterrupted.

We are hopeful that federal and state funding can help offset these costs, applying for grant funding as well as budgeting that incorporates the new economic growth we’ve experienced these past four years. Council can also consider low or no-interest loans.

The projects that may be deemed not necessary for operations are also the ones most often desired by residents. I encourage council to take a balanced approach to projects that are necessary and to ones increasing the quality of life for our residents. These are important considerations.

As we better understand how our federal and state funding will be impacted with a new federal administration, we will have to look at projects such as new finance software upgrades or the ADA pedestrian access/sidewalks and bike plan and whether or not they ultimately have to be put on the back burner, but I will continue to push council and staff to seek new funding sources.

Describe your leadership style and explain how you think it will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions with your city council.

I believe I am an effective leader because I encourage people, staff and council, to bring new ideas and solutions forward to effect change and solve problems. I believe in open dialogue and discussion and while I am responsible for setting the vision for our city, I encourage council to consider new and effective ways in which we can achieve the vision.

Our city council is comprised of 10 individuals, and each one comes with their own perspective, which is valuable. Our city has passed our strategic plan, the first ever pedestrian bike plan, residential developments, our parking study, increased the funding for the road improvement program, several ordinance changes and our First Street Plaza redevelopment creating more gathering space for our residents downtown. While complete consensus is achievable, it won’t occur with every decision and I respect differing opinions.

St. Charles is moving forward under my leadership, reducing our debt, implementing infrastructure projects, achieving desirable, smart development and considering new, unique funding sources so that we may continue to deliver the services our community deserves.

What’s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

A community trolley/transportation that connects a unique marketplace at Fox Haven on the east side to a unique marketplace utilizing First Street Plaza at specific times of the year. I think there are also opportunities to utilize this public transportation idea between our community and others like Batavia and Geneva. We could also consider expanding this to other areas of our city. This could potentially reduce parking and traffic issues as well.