Candidates come from very different backgrounds
Stacks of mailers and campaign literature sit next to a rolled-up map of Springfield’s wards on a table in the dining room of Fulgenzi’s Pizza and Pasta. Owner, operator and candidate John Fulgenzi, 67, spends a few minutes on the phone ordering food and supplies for his restaurant before turning his attention back to the campaign and the reporter sitting across the room from him.
Voters in Ward 4 have three candidates to choose from for city council. Each has his own unique background.
“One of the biggest problems in Ward 4 is the sewers; I’d like to see the sewers fixed,” Fulgenzi said, “In order to do anything, we have to get the city’s finances secure.”
Fulgenzi says that, like a business, a city should continually be built upon.
Springfield’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, but that doesn’t stop Fulgenzi from identifying as a Republican.
“I used to be a Democrat until Jimmy Carter became president and turned me into a Republican,” Fulgenzi said, adding that he doesn’t let partisan differences interrupt his personal relationships. “I’ve never chosen my friends by what party they belong to. That’s something I don’t believe in.”
One of Fulgenzi’s opponents wasn’t even alive when Jimmy Carter was president. Scott McFarland, 31, is the executive director of the Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. He has spent the last four years on the school board for Springfield District 186. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from University of Illinois Springfield and is seeking a doctorate in the same subject.
McFarland said one of the reasons he decided to run was to bring his perspective as a school board member to city council.
McFarland said that the city should involve an advisory committee with representatives from local government units like the school board when developing Tax Increment Financing Districts (TIFs).
TIF districts hamper the amount of tax money local government units like the school district can collect by freezing the taxable value of properties within the district. The value of property still goes up, but the money collected above that amount goes into a TIF fund instead of going to local governments like the school district.
McFarland pointed out that his fouryear-old daughter will have graduated high school and possibly college before the school she goes to in District 186 would see any additional money from the most recent TIF district created.
Currently, an advisory committee does meet to evaluate TIFs, but only after they’ve been written. McFarland makes clear that he isn’t against TIFs, but that he wants more input for the school board.
“I’m not anti-TIF at all. I think TIFs have shown that they work,” McFarland said. “But I do believe that the city needs to be working more with its local school districts.”
Dave Varner is a recent retiree. He worked in a civilian role for the U.S. Army and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His work has taken him to several different countries, including Iraq, to oversee construction of outposts along the Iranian border.
Varner said he wants to start a newsletter on issues in Ward 4 to give residents a sense of pride in the neighborhood.
Varner said that his experiences abroad have had an impact on how he views paying for infrastructure at home.
“I’ve been in some of the poorest countries in the world. What we see as a potholed road over there would be the best road they had,” Varner said. “I had a guy tell me: ‘Remember this when you get home and you complain about your taxes.’”
Contact Alan Kozeluh at [email protected].
