On Thursday, March 20th, candidates in the upcoming Delavan city elections gathered in the Jake Poppenga Gymnasium at Delavan High School for a “Meet the Candidates” event, allowing residents to learn more about their platforms. The event was attended by approximately fifty to seventy-five community members eager to hear how the candidates plan to address the city’s challenges and create opportunities.

Each candidate for a city office took turns introducing themselves and outlining their priorities. Topics included economic development, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and improvements.

Participating in the event were candidates for Mayor: Adam White, Nicholas Georgi, and Ben Ross; candidates for Alderman for Ward 1: Levi Birkey and Kelly Powell; candidates for Alderman for Ward 2: George Mitchell and Joe Watts; the unopposed candidate for Alderman for Ward 3 Linda Slabaugh; the unopposed candidate for City Clerk Tia Galloway.

The event was moderated by Alison Knapik, history instructor and speech coach at Delavan High School. Students from the high school’s speech team prepared and asked questions of the candidates, adding a unique touch to the proceedings. Student questioners included juniors Ella Green and Lizzy Mount, sophomores Elisha Waggoner, Remy Martin, Cash Calsyn-Grys, Kylin Brockhouse, Izzy Brothwood, and freshman Mason Ziegler.

There was broad agreement among the candidates regarding the needs of the community. In answering questions, each candidate acknowledged a requirement to retain existing businesses and attract new ones to town, improve city facilities and infrastructure like parks, sidewalks, roads, and water service, develop more housing units, and improve communication with the public. While there was agreement about the needs, each candidate had a distinct approach and set of priorities to move the city forward.

Adam White presented an argument to continue the progress the city has recently made in attracting businesses to Delavan. Believing that prioritizing business development will increase tax revenues providing needed resources to address other issues, as well as creating employment to keep the next generation of Delavan residents from being forced to leave to find opportunities. “Right now, we have some good momentum with different places opening… we should build on that.” White is a Marine Corps veteran, a real estate agent, and a partner in the development of downtown buildings and Trio’s Pizzeria, which was partially financed through tax increment financing (TIF) district funds provided by the city to subsidize redevelopment.

Nicholas Georgi focused his attention on creating more engagement with the residents, and including them more directly in the decision-making process. He suggested initiating a “Taco Tuesday”, incentivizing residents to attend city council meetings by offering food, suggesting that sharing a meal will bring the community together. During his answers, Georgi was supportive of most ideas, but shied away from directly setting any priorities himself, instead returning to his belief that priorities should be driven by the residents, not the city officials. Georgi is also a Marine Corps veteran retiring in 2015 and currently works as a supervisor at the cannabis facility outside of town.

Ben Ross stressed the need to prioritize fixing the water issues in town and restraining spending by the city.  While generally agreeing with the need to attract business, as well as other programs, his primary focus was on the maintenance and improvement of public infrastructure. He seemed genuinely skeptical of the value of using TIF financing to spur business growth. Ross is a lifelong Delavan resident who worked for the city for three years before joining the staff of the Groveland Township Water District, where he is currently employed and is presently serving on the Delavan City Council, representing Ward 1 as alderman.

Levi Birkey cited his two-and-a-half-year-old son as his reason for joining the race for Alderman in Ward 1, wanting to work to ensure his son had a strong community to grow up in. Birkey is originally from Hopedale and moved to Delavan in 2019. He works in law enforcement, including serving as a Delavan police officer.

Kelly Powell stated policies intended to support families and provide facilities and activities to engage young people were her reasons for running for Alderman in Ward 1. She also stressed the need to improve the responsiveness and accountability of the city government. Powell is originally from the Bloomington-Normal area and is currently an organizer of the garden/greenhouse farming project, Fin and Fruit, located in the lot next to the Dollar General.

George Mitchell focused on the use of TIF funding to invest back in the community. With “smart investments”, he stated the city could make significant progress on many issues, from infrastructure improvements to business development. Mitchell is a veteran of the National Guard, currently works for BASF and previously served as an alderman from Ward 3 on the city council.

Joe Watts defined his priorities as water quality, sidewalk improvements, street and park maintenance, and crime reduction. He is a lifelong resident of Delavan and is employed as a truck driver. He has been serving as a firefighter and EMS since 2017.

Linda Slabaugh is running unopposed for Alderman in Ward 3 and currently serves as secretary of the Delavan Optimist Club. She is originally from the Chicagoland area.

Tia Galloway is running unopposed for City Clerk and currently works at Common Ground. She is originally from the area between Green Valley and South Pekin.

The election will be held on Tuesday, April 1st.