Politics & Government

MaryNic Foster: Candidate for 1st Ward Alderman

Candidate for 1st Ward answers questions from Elmhurst Patch on why she's running, her vision for Elmhurst and more.

Campaign Information
www.elmhurstfirst.com

marynic1stward@gmail.com

Family: husband, Steven Foster; daughters Nicole and Grace; son, Alexander; and golden retriever, Mia Hamm Scout

Education: Loyola University School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1989, Loyola University, Chicago, B.A, Theology/Political Science, 1983

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Occupation:

Cook County Department of Human Rights Ethics and Women’s Issues

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  • Executive Director, 2008 – present
  • General Counsel, 1993 – 2008

State of Illinois Executive Ethics Commission

  • Commission member and elected chairperson, 2008-2012

Illinois Attorney General’s Office

  • Assistant Attorney General, 1989 - 1993

Why are you seeking office?

Elmhurst is a great place to live, work, raise children, and to visit. I want to preserve what is great about Elmhurst, while continuing to move our city forward. The 1st Ward deserves an alderman who has the experience, skills and qualifications, and the right temperament to be an effective representative of First Ward interests, while keeping the interests of the city as a whole in mind as well. I respectfully believe my extensive experience and expertise as the director of an important governmental agency, an attorney and ethics professional make me uniquely qualified to be alderman for the 1st Ward. 

What will be your highest priority if elected?

I have been concerned that over the last several years there has been an increasing level of unnecessary friction and fragmentation on the City Council.  I will work to change that. I will be a strong, thoughtful and positive leader for the 1st Ward. I do not bring any preconceived agenda to this position, other than to listen to the residents of the 1st Ward and to do everything possible to further the interests of the 1st Ward and those of Elmhurst. 

My highest priority will be to represent the interests of the 1st Ward, and to work with my colleagues on the City Council in the most innovative, collaborative and transparent manner possible to preserve what is great about Elmhurst, while moving our city forward.       

The next several years will be critical years for Elmhurst, with challenges and opportunities abounding. The redevelopment of the Berteau Street Campus, progress on the Hahn Street development, the re-development of the area north of North Avenue and progress on the southwest stormwater and sanitary abatement project are just a few of the challenges and opportunities which City Council will be dealing with in the years ahead. 

One of my priorities will be to increase or enhance revenues while looking critically and creatively at ways to reduce costs where appropriate, without sacrificing services. Over 40 percent of our general fund revenue is derived from taxes (property, sales and utility). We must work to reduce our reliance on revenue from property taxes and reduce the burden felt by so many our residents.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

I bring to the Elmhurst City Council years of relevant governmental experience, the seasoned perspective and passion of a longtime resident, and the education and expertise of an advocate, mediator and problem solver.  

I am a 20 year resident of Elmhurst. I live at the corner of Grace and Alexander in the College View area, with my husband, Steve, and our three children, Nicole, Grace and Alexander. Steve and I had the foresight to name our children Grace and Alexander years before we moved to the corner of Grace and Alexander.

I am also a working mom, who is the director of the Department of Human Rights, Ethics and Woman's Issues for Cook County. Throughout the years, I have successfully balanced my work, home and civic responsibilities.

One of the volunteer activities of which I am most proud is to have had the privilege to coach a number of Immaculate Conception Destination ImagiNation Teams. DI, as it is known, is a team-centered international problem-solving competition for elementary school through university aged students.  During my coaching tenure, our teams twice advanced to the global championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. I am very honored to have worked with these fine students, and to this day, remain very proud of our students' achievements in this extracurricular activity.

As the director of the Department of Human Rights, Ethics and Woman's Issues for Cook County, I run an important department in the second largest county government in the United States. My job responsibilities and experience as director are directly transferable to alderman and will inure to the benefit of the residents of the 1st Ward.

I have extensive experience in the preparation (and often the paring) of budgets; my department implements and adheres to performance management-based metrics, I have daily contact with the residents and elected officials of Cook County, addressing their concerns on a variety of issues; I appear regularly at Cook County Board meetings and make frequent presentations to the board on issues relating to our department and its constituents. I am extremely well versed in the workings and nuances of government, including the implementation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

I am also proud to have served as the chairperson of the State of Illinois Executive Ethics Commission. My experience in both my role as director, and as the elected chairperson of the State Ethics Commission have placed me at the cutting edge of government ethics and open government. This experience will enable me to be a gatekeeper for the residents of the 1st Ward and the City of Elmhurst in the critical area of open, transparent and accountable government.

I am an attorney, a former litigator for the Illinois Attorney General's Office. 

Running for office is a new endeavor for me. I don't know my opponent and I am sure she is a fine and capable person, but I believe I have superior experience and skills to serve as 1st Ward alderman.

Consultants suggest most of the city’s flooding and sewer problems require fixes at individual residences. Homeowners may resist, especially if there is a cost. How do you propose getting that done?

A complete resolution to this Elmhurst issue is complex and costly, and will require a comprehensive and collaborative plan from City Council. In a situation such as this, open and direct dialog between the city, affected residents and other governmental bodies, where appropriate, is key. Although not all of Elmhurst is affected equally, the remediation of sanitary and storm water issues will positively affect Elmhurst as a whole. This plan may involve city/resident cost sharing or other innovative solutions. However, what is most important at this stage and when moving forward is open and direct communication and education—not only educating those residents most directly affected by the proposed fixes, but also educating the entire city on the benefits of addressing proactively the issue of flooding.

Elmhurst has four TIF districts now and two more proposed.  Do you agree with TIF decisions made thus far (creating TIF 4, moving Hahn St., etc) and do you support moving forward with TIFs 5 and 6? What other methods of increasing development do you favor?

I was not a member of the City Council when decisions regarding the creation of TIF’s 1-4 were made. It seems to me that speculation as to whether those were good decisions at the time they were made, when now those decisions cannot be undone, provides little value to the discourse as to how the city should address new TIF issues and decisions on TIFs in the future. 

In addition to holding the line on expenses where prudent, promoting economic development is one of the most important actions the city can take to reduce our long-term reliance on property taxes as a source of revenue for the city.  TIF districts are just one of the tools that Elmhurst and many other cities and towns across the country have used to grow their economic base in order to decrease the property tax burden on residents.

The challenge with TIFs is that there are no absolutes or guarantees. In brief, a TIF District is a government stimulus, and local government interventions, and all of the best intentions in the world may do no good at all in the face of serious national economic challenges and conditions. The test of whether a TIF works is not whether valuations increase. The real test is whether valuations increase more than they would have without the stimulus provided by the city.

TIF 4 represents a unique opportunity to develop the north end of Elmhurst, which, unfortunately, has not had the improvements and growth seen in other areas of our city that have enjoyed the successful use of TIFs. It is not only important to the citizens who live in that area, but to the entire city. This TIF is about the expansion of our tax base and creating an economic engine that will support the future of Elmhurst.

The dropping of the Hahn Street parcel from TIF 1, and the subsequent addition to TIF 4, while not an ideal solution, was a necessary solution. The Hahn parcel was put into TIF 1 in 1986; then by virtue of the 2004 Agreement (TIF Extension Agreement) with District 205, was extended for 12 more years (until 2021) in exchange for the release of certain parcels. Unfortunately, due to the unexpected and unprecedented economic downturn, it became necessary to move the Hahn St. parcel from TIF 1 into TIF 4 in order to give the city the necessary time to finish the project. Although everyone involved would likely agree that seeing the Hahn Street project completed a number of years ago as planned would have been the ideal solution, the economic crisis that presented itself, and from which we are just now emerging, did not allow that to happen as planned.   

Until we close out or end one or more of our current TIFs, I do not think that the city of Elmhurst should approve any further TIFs. If TIFs 5 and 6 (as currently proposed) were to be approved, then the majority of commercial properties in Elmhurst would be in a TIF District. This would be unprecedented territory for a community with the size and demographics of Elmhurst. I believe TIF addition at this point in time is not a good economic decision and has the potential to put the city and taxpayers at risk. 

Any development must be reasonable and sustainable. I support responsible redevelopment of areas in our Central Business District and adjacent commercial areas, such as, the Hahn Street Development, the Addison Corridor and the areas on or adjacent to York Street north of North Avenue. I would emphasize mixed used developments that would couple retail and residential properties, such as condominiums, townhomes and mid-end to high-end apartments. In addition, every piece of property that is developed or redeveloped will increase property tax revenues. The benefits to increasing our residential stock in the Central Business District from a revenue enhancing perspective are multiple. Every new resident is a likely consumer of the services offered by our retail businesses. These new residents will shop in our shops, eat in our restaurants and generally invigorate our local economy. In addition, new development will attract consumers from other communities to come to Elmhurst and Shop Elmhurst.

Another possible new source of revenue will be from the redevelopment of the Berteau Street campus of Elmhurst Hospital. The city should work with the Hospital to encourage responsible redevelopment of that area in a manner that would maximize tax revenue while maintaining the integrity of the neighborhood. One possibility to explore would be to encourage the redevelopment of that area as wholly single family residences. Dozens of new mid- to high-end single family homes could be built on the old hospital site. Each home would add to our property tax base, while adding new residents to an area that is in close proximity to our central business district. As with the people who will live in condominiums, townhomes and apartments in our central business district, these new residences will be consumers in Elmhurst for generations to come.

What is Elmhurst missing that you would like to see?

The answer to this question will be as varied as the individuals who will be responding to the question. I think Elmhurst has a great mix of social, educational, and entrepreneurial opportunities. As a parent, I of course want to see us explore even more teen-friendly opportunities for our youth to be engaged in ways that stimulate and encourage their wholesome development.  One specific idea would be a community-based teen drop-in center, perhaps modeled off of established and proven enterprises in other communities. This may be best accomplished through a not-for-profit organization that could establish a presence in an underutilized or currently vacant space. I’d envision this place having a variety of recreational opportunities of interest and having cooperative tie-ins to our middle and high schools. This would obviously involve intergovernmental partnerships and would not lie within the direct control of the City Council, but would something that we could work toward.

Taxpayers will be your toughest critics, in large part because you’re spending their money. Elmhurst has a lot of informed, outspoken citizens. How will you connect with them to address their concerns?

I promise to be reasonable and responsible with taxpayer money, as I am also a taxpayer and user of city services.  

As to how I will connect and address constituent concerns, there is an old expression in life about not reinventing the wheel. Over the last several years significant steps have been taken to improve communications between the Elmhurst aldermen and their constituents.  In the 1st Ward, kudos should go to aldermen Guttenkauf and Pezza for the development and use of regular email communications, community coffees and ward meetings with 1st Ward citizens. I fully favor the continuation and enhancement of those communication tools.

The city's website is continually being improved to be more user-friendly and I would encourage continued improvements to the city’s website.   I am concerned that relatively few citizens realize the value of the city's website and I would encourage a "get the word out" campaign to increase awareness of the value of the website.

I would also like to work with the city information technology staff and my fellow 1st Ward aldermen to explore the possibility of developing a 1st Ward website and/or and expansion of the city's website to include a dedicated 1st Ward section. On occasion the city has originated automated telephone calls for topics of city-wide importance. I would support reviewing the possible selective and responsible use of city-sponsored phone calls to communicate important news. Criteria would have to be developed and agreed upon prior to any roll out of such a communication tool.  An important way to make sure that our constituents' concerns or questions reach me is to actively communicate with the other 1st Ward alderman. Since each ward has two aldermen, it is not uncommon that a constituent will call one, but not both of the aldermen. In such an instance, the alderman who was not contacted is out of the loop unless the other alderman communicates the constituent's question or concern. Accordingly, it is very important for the First Ward's two aldermen to be in close contact and share information.

Finally, I am a very accessible and responsive person and will actively welcome First Ward residents to contact me at home, via phone, (630) 863-1983, email marynic1stward@gmail.com, or my website, www.elmhurstfirst.com.

Should Elmhurst allow backyard chicken coops?

Careful thought should be given to the possibility of allowing backyard chickens/chicken coops in Elmhurst. While there are extremely positive environmental, social and economic reasons that support moving forward with this idea, these considerations must be carefully weighed against possible public safety, public nuisance and/or public health issues. Appropriate land use and zoning issues would have to be thoroughly addressed, as well as permitting or licensing requirements. 

The current City Council has the correct idea to have the Development, Planning and Zoning Committee review this issue as well as the Public Affairs Committee. While this idea may be appropriate for other communities, such as the City of Chicago, Oak Park, Batavia, Palatine and Naperville, before moving forward with such an ordinance in Elmhurst, the city must consider whether this law would enhance or detract from the essential character of what makes Elmhurst, Elmhurst.    

What other message do you really want to get across to Elmhurst voters? Please add any other information pertinent to your campaign.

My current position as executive director of the Cook County Department of Human Rights, Ethics and Women’s Issues requires me to make difficult decisions daily and to take a strong stand against powerful interests and powerful people. And, while the department’s decisions may not always be popular, under my leadership, the work ethic and the way in which our department carries out our core mandates is well respected.

I am also a concerned mother and neighbor who is not looking to use this position as a stepping stone to bigger offices. I believe the 1st Ward deserves an alderman who will act in a positive and proactive manner to advance the interests of the 1st Ward and to benefit all of Elmhurst.

I will bring a new voice and a new perspective to the council. I will be a strong, thoughtful and positive leader for the 1st Ward. I will bring to the council years of relevant governmental experience, the seasoned perspective and passion of a longtime resident, and the expertise of an advocate, mediator and problem solver.  

I believe when the city and her elected officials work together openly and collaboratively, and when they engage in thoughtful discourse about the direction of the city, that is a good thing for all of Elmhurst.    

As the candidate with the best qualifications and skills, if elected, I will work with residents and my colleagues on the council to preserve what is great about Elmhurst, while moving Elmhurst forward to an even brighter better future.


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