Genoa mayoral candidates talk big-ticket issues, plans for first 100 days before April 6 election

GENOA – With a week to go before the April 6 consolidated election, both Genoa mayoral candidates gave an overview of their qualifications for the seat and what their priorities will be as mayor, if elected.

Current Genoa Ward 2 Alderman Dennis Di Guido and current Ward 4 Alderman Jonathon Brust separately talked with Daily Chronicle staff about where they stand on certain issues, including police reform, infrastructure and economic development. The two also shared what their plans would be for their first 100 days in office if they were elected as the city’s new mayor.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

Daily Chronicle: What do you believe makes you the best candidate for the position?

Dennis Di Guido: For the last six years, I’ve been deeply involved in the city of Genoa and the local government. I was first appointed as city clerk in 2015 by Mayor [Mark] Vicary. It was a great opportunity to learn the process and procedures involved with the meeting. In 2017, I was elected as alderman for Ward 2. I consider myself a strong advocate for the city of Genoa, as well as my ward. I also have over 13 years with the U.S. Army reserve. My current rank is Sergeant first class. My background in the army reserves is in logistics. I’m basically responsible for anything it takes for a unit to be successful. I’ve had property books that rivaled the city’s budget. I was responsible for the supply needs of over 120 soldiers. What that, to me, shows is the ability to act ethically because by having the responsibility of equipment for that many soldiers, it’s important to maintain a proper accountability of it – things aren’t being lost or you’re not giving them away to your friends just because they’re asking for it. Sometimes it comes down to you having to tell somebody no. To do the right thing and be ethical, you have to tell people no.

Jonathon Brust: I’ve lived in Genoa my entire life. I went to high school here, was on competitive teams and met my wife during high school. We’re high school sweethearts, had three kids and we’ve been raising our family here ever since. I’ve actually owned my own local business here in town. I’ve worked at different businesses in Genoa and one of my old managers got me on the track into Genoa politics through the economic development commission. From there, that was where Mayor [Mark] Vicary approached me ... and invited me onto an open seat on the city council. My professional career has really helped give me the skills needed to lead a city like Genoa, where there are complexities and challenges that we face. I’m an enterprise account executive, been doing it for over eight years and [am] responsible for leading very high performing sales teams [who] work with some of the world’s largest multi-billion dollar companies. We saw some really complex challenges where our focus is saving money, speeding things up, bringing more efficiency into their processes. This time in this business environment has given me a strong business mindset. I think that’s really important when we’re dealing with small businesses here in Genoa, but also larger franchises, larger developments as we grow and expand Genoa’s footprint.

DC: What do you believe is the biggest issue in the city/town, and how would you address it as mayor?

Di Guido: I think the best thing to focus on right here is the infrastructure. Late last year, the City of Genoa was able to secure a $2.5 million bond for street repairs. That street improvement program is going to allow us to update up to 16 streets within the city limits. This is going to be about 29% of the city streets being updated and improved in this next year. That is a major win for us. As an alderman, that is probably one of the top complaints I get is the deterioration of our city streets. Many of them are original surfaces and side streets can really provide a beating on a car. But there are still more streets we need to get done. We need to make sure we’re identifying [roads that need to be resurfaced] as quickly as possible and that we’ve identified all of them that are urgently needed so we can budget and continue moving forward.

Brust: We’re a small town. We have a hometown kind of feel. When you drive through on Main Street, that’s really where a lot of our exposure comes from, people driving through and seeing we’re a quaint community-driven city. That’s really what colors people’s perceptions of what Genoa is. I think we have a few vacant buildings on main street. I’d like to see those filled up. As far as the plan of how do we do that, that really comes down to my experience ... is building relationships, identifying new opportunities and incentivizing businesses.

DC: If elected, what would you plan on doing in your first 100 days as mayor?

Di Guido: What I’ve been trying to do now in the last few months is I’ve been meeting with department heads and city staff to understand as much as I can and try to translate that into a perspective of being the mayor – sitting down with city staff and our finance office manager to understand how we’re budgeting for the next year. I’ve also done two separate ride-alongs with police officers. If I don’t try to place myself in their shoes and understand their perspectives and give them an open opportunity to convey or communicate with me about some of their thoughts or concerns, I’m already failing them.

Brust: My first hundred days are going to begin with building relationships with other municipalities and cities and getting a presence at County level meetings, which we don’t have a solid presence today. These relationships and partnerships are going to be really important, starting out as new opportunities develop and come to light. I think I want to bring on a specific person at Genoa that is part of the city staff and their whole focus is economic development. Their job is to outreach, build relationships, identify key developers and key contractors that are working with large industrial, manufacturing, commercial businesses that are looking for the opportune place to set up shop. Currently, we have a city administrator, but we don’t have an economic development person.

DC: What are your thoughts about police reform and how it may or may not relate to the City of Genoa, especially following the state’s nearly 700-page omnibus bill that was passed recently?

Di Guido: I think there’s still a lot to digest as far as the real pros and cons. I think this was a much needed reform, but there can be certain compromises or aspects of the bill that not everybody agrees with. My conversations with the chief have led me to believe that we’re in a pretty good place and don’t have an immediate concern based on many of the things that have been enacted. For instance, like with the body cameras, the City of Genoa has already budgeted in the past to provide body cameras and to meet the mandates being set by the state. We’ll be in a position to already have those well before the deadline that we would have to have them in. What we’ll do is take the opportunity record those events [that expose any vulnerabilities in the state bill] and to utilize different forms of government to become advocates for us. If I have concerns with the reform bill, I’m going to work with our state representative Jeff Keicher and I’m going to bring those to his attention so that we can advocate for that.

Brust: I recently met with our police department last week and we talked about this bill and what the impact is going to be for police. And they shared that, for example, in a trespassing case, they have no ability to remove a person from trespassing. They have to ask them to leave, they need to wait there and try to get that person off, but there’s not really anything that they can do. I think part of this bill, it kind of puts a block on some of the small town’s ability to get things done quickly. And I’m not saying that it has to be done in a violent way or a brutal way or anything like that, but in a reasonable way. It’s really restricting our officer’s ability to do their job effectively. I think there are parts of the bill that are good and we’ve actually already taken a proactive step in the years prior to this, with things like body cameras. I’m a big believer in that. And I think it helps shed the truth and helps protect our officers, because we have a really good team of people here in Genoa. For a small city like Genoa, where you don’t really have the issues of a big city like Chicago or even a little bit bigger city like DeKalb, we have a good staff and system here and I don’t think this is the best for Genoa itself. I really wish the state would have worked closer with some of these smaller municipalities. So hopefully, as we move forward, we’ll build credibility in Springfield so we can really be in some of these conversations before these large-scale bills get passed without us knowing.

DC: Anything else you’d like to highlight?

Di Guido: One thing that did come up recently that I want to do is [to invest in an internship or apprenticeship program for local students in partnership with local businesses and city government.] I feel like our children feel like they have to move a million miles away or move to the East coast or West coast to find a great job. I think if we can show them that the great jobs are here right in their community, [it] just creates even more cohesion in the community. I want to make sure we’re also doing everything we can to encourage economic development within the city. I feel it’s important for us to have a seat at the table with the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation. Finally, intergovernmental collaboration. I really want to make sure that we’re not passing the buck [at the expense of our residents].

Brust: We have a very low voter turnout in Genoa. There’s thousands of voters and only a few hundred actually get out and voice the right to vote in the mayoral elections, the consolidated elections coming up on April 6. I would just really encourage everyone to exercise the right to vote and be able to share what they believe is the right leadership and the right vision for Genoa. Personally, I had a lot of fond memories growing up here in Genoa. This isn’t something I’m doing as part of a resume builder or to move on to some other political position at state. I really am doing this to be able to give back to the community that’s given me so much for so many years and with the tremendous support of so many people in the city.