Judy Brodhead For Naperville City Council: Patch Candidate Profile

Name: Judith Brodhead

Age: 65

Position Sought: Naperville City Council

Family: Husband, Gary Smith; 3 adult children

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No

Education: B.A., Douglass College of Rutgers University; M.A., Rutgers University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Occupation: Associate Professor of English, Coordinator of Cultural Events, North Central College; Employed at North Central College since 1990 to the present.

Why are you running?

I was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 and 2015. What I hope to accomplish is to move Naperville further along in its role as a 21st Century city. I’ve often spoken about Naperville as a “boomburb” - a suburb that grew by double digits for at least a decade and reached a population of more than 100,000. We’re close to 150,000 in population, and although we’re the fifth-largest city in the state, among other stellar accomplishments, we produce more sales revenue than any other city in Illinois than the City of Chicago. When I was first on the Plan Commission in the early 1990s, planners and we commissioners assumed that empty nesters and seniors would head to warmer parts of the country rather than staying after their families were grown. But that age group moved into Naperville and chose to stay, partly because their children and grandchildren are nearby, and partly because it’s an excellent place to live for people of all ages.

At the same time, their millennial offspring are marrying and having children later than their parents did. Although many gravitate to Chicago and other urban areas, a large percentage of the young people who grew up in Naperville liked it and would live here before they raise families, if we had housing they could afford on their salaries. When they decide to have a family, they would like to live here in the suburbs, taking advantage of a safe city with great schools, parks, and cultural amenities, while having easy access to Chicago for work and entertainment. I would like to continue to be part of the planning for our future. It’s been my privilege to serve the city and I plan to continue doing a good job.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: Councilwoman, City of Naperville

Campaign Website: brodheadfornaperville.com

What do you hope to accomplish in office?

I’ve already written about planning for the future of Naperville, which will include working on commercial, retail, and residential development. In addition to what I wrote in response to the first question, I think we’ll have to tackle some of the changes that are coming to the American economy that affect Naperville as they affect all of the country, including the changing nature of shopping patterns, including how Internet sales will affect our brick and mortar stores, which are already at a disadvantage if they do not charge sales tax. I’m a supporter of the streamlined sales tax and would continue to work for that through our city’s lobbying as well as that of the our lobbying partners, including the DuPage Mayors and Managers’ Conference, where I am on the Legislative Committee. We have also seen that suburban corporate campuses will have to adapt to the 21st Century, especially in an era when corporations are moving to cities like Chicago as part of their downsizing and streamlining. It takes constant effort on the part of groups like the Naperville Development Partnership, where I am on the board, to attract and organizations like the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce to nourish them.

Naperville is a remarkably safe city, and we work hard to maintain that status. Our police and fire departments have worked extensively to keep up with best practices around the country, including establishing a Crisis Intervention Team that can de-escalate dangerous situations that might involve people who are mentally ill who threatens to harm themselves or others, including family members or co-workers. Our 2016 Community Satisfaction Survey shows that 94% of our residents are happy with the way the city is being run, and surely safety is a major factor in that assessment. Maintaining that reputation as a safe city is crucial to our reputation as a safe place. Supporting efforts like the CIT, and encouraging similar innovation, is something I always encourage.

Related to our safety is the issue of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use among our youth. I’m a member of the Community Alliance for Prevention, an outgrowth of 360 Youth Services, which includes representatives from the school districts, social service agencies, non-profit organizations, police department, and health providers. The Power of Choice has been collecting data since 2003, and it actually shows that our middle school and high school students in Districts 203 and 204 have falling rates of alcohol, prescription drug, and heroin use. Even though we worry tremendously about heroin and other opioids, and it was a shock several years ago to realize how cheap and available heroin is, the truth is that the vast majority of our students are not using drugs. The numbers of people who have overdosed and died from heroin has doubled, but it went from 4 people to 8, a terrible thing, but fortunately a small number. We need to realize that those who are using heroin or overdosing on prescription drugs are frequently older, sometimes much older. When the police department and schools realized heroin was becoming an issue, the city council almost immediately added $50,000 to our social service spending to get our non-profits working on prevention of drug use and on suicide prevention. Those efforts have continued, and I will continue to look for ways to help not just our youth but our older residents who become addicted to drugs.

How would you hold local government employees accountable?

For several years now elected officials and city staff have worked on increasing transparency on many levels. All of our budget line items are published and available online, and elected officials (as well as members of the public) can scrutinize how their tax money is being spent. We challenge our staff to follow a continuous improvement model, and find innovative ways to cooperate with other government bodies to reduce costs. For example, our fire chief and police chief have found ways to cooperate with nearby cities (sharing an ambulance with the Village of Lisle) and working toward coordination with Aurora and emergency communication.

Explain your attitudes toward fiscal policy, government spending and how taxpayer dollars should be handled by your office (or board)?

During the past eight years, I’ve helped manage the city through the recession and into the financial recovery of the past few years. The policies we’ve adopted since Mayor Chirico was elected, and everyone on the council agreed to, are keeping us in a strong financial position.

We have taken a number of steps since 2015, when we could see the recession winding down, that have put the city on a stronger financial footing. During the recession, we drew down on the city’s excess reserves rather than raising taxes or borrowing more than necessary for capital projects. The three principles that the entire council approved include (1) producing a structurally balanced budget annually (2) continuous improvement in delivering necessary and cost-effective services and (3) actively seeking to increase the city’s reserves by 25% and reducing debt by 25%, both in eight years. Those steps are fairly aggressive, and we have been successful so far in implementing them. We have also controlled costs by not filling a number of positions (at this writing it is 48), although of course some of them will be filled, since especially in areas like public safety.

We need to make sure our financial forecasts are as accurate as possible, and continue to “stress the system" to ensure that we are achieving the best possible use of the taxpayer dollar. I’d like to see more accurate predictions of electrical costs, in particular, since we run a municipal utility.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

We maintained, even through the recession years, a triple-A bond rating (Standard and Poor’s AAA, Moody’s Aaa). From our website: “Specifically noted in S&P’s report were the ‘very strong’ financial management practices of the City, especially its strong financial policies and practices. Moody’s cited the City’s large and diverse tax base, affluent residential base and low unemployment levels, financial flexibility and the stabilization of sales tax revenues as justification for its rating.” The City’s financial policies and practices, financial flexibility, and stabilization of sales tax revenues keep the city in excellent financial shape.

We are also in good shape when it comes to funding municipal (IMRF) and public safety (police and fire) pensions, funded to the level of 76.1%. The steps we took to follow the financial principles noted above will help keep that funding solid. They have also reduced our debt by $6 million.

I’ve already written about planning for the future of Naperville, which will include working on commercial, retail, and residential development. In addition to what I wrote in response to the first question, I think we’ll have to tackle some of the changes that are coming to the American economy that affect Naperville as they affect all of the country, including the changing nature of shopping patterns, including how Internet sales will affect our brick and mortar stores, which are already at a disadvantage if they do not charge sales tax. I’m a supporter of the streamlined sales tax and would continue to work for that through our city’s lobbying as well as that of the our lobbying bodies, including the DuPage Mayors and Managers’ Conference, where I am on the Legislative Committee. We have also seen that suburban corporate campuses will have to adapt to the 21st Century, especially in an era when corporations are moving to cities like Chicago as part of their downsizing and streamlining. It takes constant effort on the part of groups like the Naperville Development Partnership, where I am on the board, to attract and organizations like the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce to nourish them.

Naperville is a remarkably safe city, and we work hard to maintain that status. Our police and fire departments have worked extensively to keep up with best practices around the country, including establishing a Crisis Intervention Team that can de-escalate dangerous situations that might involve people who are mentally ill who threatens to harm themselves or others, including family members or co-workers. Our 2016 Community Satisfaction Survey shows that 94% of our residents are happy with the way the city is being run, and surely safety is a major factor in that assessment. Maintaining that reputation as a safe city is crucial to our reputation as a safe place. Supporting efforts like the CIT, and encouraging innovations like that, is something I always encourage.

Related to our safety is the issue of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use among our youth. I’m a member of the Community Alliance for Prevention, an outgrowth of 360 Youth Services, which includes representatives from the school districts, social service agencies, non-profit organizations, police department, and health providers. The Power of Choice has been collecting data since 2003, and it actually shows that our middle school and high school students in Districts 203 and 204 have falling rates of alcohol, prescription drug, and heroin use. Even though we worry tremendously about heroin and other opioids, and it was a shock several years ago to realize how cheap and available heroin is, the truth is that the vast majority of our students are not using drugs. The numbers of people who have overdosed and died from heroin has doubled, but it went from 4 people to 8, a terrible thing, but fortunately a small number. We need to realize that those who are using heroin or overdosing on prescription drugs are frequently older, sometimes much older. When the police department and schools realized heroin was becoming an issue, the city council almost immediately added $50,000 to our social service spending to get our non-profits working on prevention of drug use and on suicide prevention. Those efforts have continued, and I will continue to look for ways to help not just our youth but our older residents who become addicted to drugs.

What else would you like voters to know about you and your positions?

I've been endorsed by the Daily Herald, the IAFF (Professional Firefighters), and the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police). When endorsing me, the Daily Herald wrote that "Before [election], she played key roles on the plan commission and zoning board and her background has proved invaluable in an ever-changing city, as has her thoughtful and reasoned approach to issues."

Photo provided by Judy Brodhead