Boone County, District One Candidates talk Stellantis, rodeos, and jobs
Northern Public Radio | By Maria Gardner Lara
Published October 10, 2024 at 4:30 AM CDT
Listen • 3:33
Boone County Election Clerk
Democrat Michael Yates and Republicans Josh Shumaker, and incumbent Brian Schneider are vying for two seats representing the first district on the Boone County Board.
County boards make decisions that have a lot of impact on its residents that are sometimes overlooked, such as which roads get repaired, property taxes, and the funding for the local health department.
In Boone County, voters get to choose two candidates.
Here are profiles of the candidates for Boone County, District 1.
Josh Shumaker (R)
Josh Shumaker
Republican Josh Shumaker has lived in the area since he was nine. He works in corporate IT.
The thirty-seven-year-old said he decided to run because he didn’t see many folks from his generation on the board.
“Why aren't there people my age running?” he asked. “And so that's just how I kind of started to be like, okay, maybe I should get involved.”
He said securing a better future for his four kids is also a motivator.
Regarding issues facing the county, he said rodeos are an obvious one.
It's definitely about lifestyle and how people live,” he said. “It's something that I don't believe the government has a pipeline to tell people how to live.”
Scrutiny of the events has taken up a lot of the board’s time. Mexican American families have held the Mexican style rodeos, also known as coleaderos, in the county for over 20 years.
With respect to concerns for the animals’ welfare, he said if a crime occurs, then folks must be prosecuted accordingly.
He said another issue is solar panels.
He said there needs to be long-term planning on the need of farmland for the future.
“Farmland is very valuable as a local resource,” he said. “It feeds your population, it's, something that we need, and we should incentivize those farmers to use that farmland in the proper way.”
He said fiscal responsibility is also another issue important to him.
As far as housing, Shumaker emphasized the positive role the county has taken to spur the economy, especially in the I-90 corridor.
“I think the county board bringing jobs to the county in smart ways is good,” he said.
Michael Yates (D)
Michael Yates
Michael Yates has lived in Belvidere for over two decades.
He has worked in the Belvidere School District since 2008 in various roles including assistant principal and now, English high school teacher.
He said he’s gotten to know the families of the district over the years and is invested in their future and in turn making the county better.
“These children that I'm teaching right now and that are graduating,” he said, “I'd like to see the Belvidere high school graduates come back to Belvidere and have great opportunities for them.”
He said a major issue facing the county is the idling of the Stellantis plant. He fully supports the United Auto workers and said if elected to the board he wants “to make sure that the plant comes back and that those job opportunities are still there not just for the auto workers, but also really taking a look across the county and making sure that small businesses are supported.”
Yates said overall it’s about bringing good jobs to the county.
Also, he’d like to see more county support given to the public health department and the conservation districts.
Regarding the ongoing debate on the Mexican-style rodeos, Yates said he’d emphasize the importance of getting feedback from different organizations “and making sure you're doing your research, making sure you're listening to lawyers and attorneys.”
He added, “and making sure that you're actually doing decisions that are fair and just and that are in the best interest of everybody.”
Regarding housing, he said there’s a need for affordable housing, and he’s interested in learning about the county’s role in supporting housing development.
“How are we using the land to the best possible availability?” he asked. He said he thinks about his students and his own kids.
“I hope that they are willing to come back and move here,” he said, “and part of that is not only having a job, but also having affordable housing for them as well.”
Brian Schneider, incumbent (R)
The third candidate is incumbent Republican Brian Schneider. WNIJ reached out to him several times and hasn’t received a response.
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A Chicago native, Maria earned a Master's Degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield . Maria is a 2022-2023 corps member for Report for America. RFA is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. It is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit journalism organization. Un residente nativo de Chicago, Maria se graduó de University of Illinois Springfield con una licenciatura superior en periodismo de gobierno.
Above is from: https://www.northernpublicradio.org/wnij-news/2024-10-10/boone-county-district-one-candidates-talk-stellantis-rodeos-and-jobs
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