Mayoral Candidates: Belinda Henton Part 1
I will admit that I was nervous about meeting with “politicians” and interviewing them. I quickly decided that I had made the chose to do this so there was no turning back now. Both meetings were scheduled to take place at the same location right here in Olney at Ophelia’s Cup so that part was easy…. arrive before the meeting, get a cup of coffee or tea, and get my notes ready. As I arrived I hoped I had enough questions to ask and discussed all the issues you would like to hear about. So here is what you are truly here for, part 1 of the interviews with the Olney mayoral candidates. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.
It was a cold morning and the snow had already started falling by 9:00 am as I sat prepared to start my interview with Belinda Henton. Belinda arrived and sat down with her drink to start what I feared would be a very formal and stiff meeting. She gave me a flyer with all the typical information you would expect with a politician, general bio, her goals for the office, and her community involvement. Which if you would like to read it I can post that later but todays focus was on the interview so we dove right in. She was friendly and very approachable so that relaxed me quite a bit and we started with some basic information. Belinda does ride and has a personal viewpoint of the issues affecting us in the motorcycle community. She shares our views on helmet laws and says it's so true that it should be your choice. Her grandpa, Willis Morgan, had the first Harley shop in Olney located where the Put-put Golf course is now. She grew up around motorcycles. She has instilled the love of motorcycle in her children and is also passing that on to her grandchildren. As she spoke of her children and grandchildren throughout the interview I could see how proud of each of them she was. Her son taught the motorcycle safety course for a time.
The first issue that she is concerned that most people don’t realize is that the Mayor is no more important than any of the council members. Each of them has one vote. “The fate of the city lies on all five of us. It’s not just one of us.” Belinda stated. As she explained it to me Olney has a form of government that is a city manager/council. The city manager is the one responsible for the day to day running of the city. The city manager hire the police, street workers, and all those who are responsible for the day to day activities of the town. The Mayor in her view is not much different than a chairman of a board, they conduct the meetings, are the PR person, and when someone is needed to be the face of Olney that’s where our Mayor steps in. She feels there are many types of Mayors, strong and weak, and many don’t vote on issues unless there is a tie however in Olney the Mayor votes every time. I asked her what her feelings were about the dreaded issue of political party and how she felt that would affect the upcoming election. Belinda stated that as she has gone door to door to talk to those voters she has been asked many times what party she represented. And her response has been “it doesn’t matter”, there is no room to focus on strictly on the “party”. I expressed my feeling that the younger generation, being a bit less focused on strictly party and more on the issues that are important to them and the candidates views on those issues as a whole. She said she really hoped that was what was happening because people were just becoming burnt out, especially with the national elections that just ended. And she is seeing that it is the older generation that is more questioning about party affiliation. People just don’t see the need to really go out and vote during a local election or are afraid they will need to declare a party when they vote. She expressed her concern with this by stating that “these are the elections that affect our daily lives, our taxes, our roads, and how we do things.” I expressed my concern about our roads and she did express concern about the southern part of town roads as being the older roads and in worse condition since building has taken place in the northern part of town so those roads were newer and in turn in better shape.
Since she clearly had an idea of what the Motorcycle Safety Course was I took this opportunity to ask her what she thought of the funding cuts that had lowered the number and location of offered courses this year. She said that we should have seen that coming with all the issues the state was having and that the funding of that program could have been handled better and a possible increase in price could help that program succeed. She thought that it was a great idea that A.B.A.T.E. was working towards setting up some of these programs.
As A.B.A.T.E. faces a loss in numbers and a struggle to get the younger generation involved I wondered if this was an issue that was being faced in bringing out voters as well. I asked if she felt that the younger generation was coming out to vote more or if the 18,19,20 year olds were the ones that seem to be slipping through everywhere. She explained that when she goes door to door she can get a list of individuals and if they vote and how they vote. She is not seeing a lot of the younger generation is voting at all. “It’s aggravating but they are also the ones who will come out to complain.” Belinda stated. She has hope that with a younger generation coming on to the council that will lead the younger generation to also come out, vote and get involved.
The fees that we face as a Chapter are enforced by the state but the city has worked hard to keep those fees low. In discussing events and permits for events Belinda stated that, “Poker runs were becoming a big problem because it was taking police to lead those through town and it came down to using resources that were needed elsewhere. And there had to be a balance found there.”
She also expressed concern about an issue that the city and the tourism board is facing which is one that we as a chapter are also facing. That is getting people to get involved and to help plan/organize events. She also feels that we have hit a point in our growth as a city that we don’t quite have that close-knit community feel as we did in the past and while the growth is good it’s a bit of a double-edged sword in getting people involved in community activities. And those community activities are needed to strengthen the town. “Those are the challenges we have,” Belinda stated, a lot of the organizations in town have many members but not active members. She has been told by so many that there just isn’t anything to do and she sees so much for everyone to do. She remembers the days when a Saturday consisted of driving up and down main and parking to talk to friends.
Golf carts and there use in town was an issue we discussed she stated that she doesn’t have a problem with allowing that and with the state guidelines she would most likely vote in favor of allowing them to be ridden on roadways.
During the entire time, I spent talking with Belinda her love for Olney was clear. She says she is hopeful for the employment to go up in Olney but the high-tech jobs just aren’t something that is going to happen in Olney. She says the RCDC is working hard on that and that is there job. She mentioned the City is working hard to bring jobs into the county by using the TIFF district which offers businesses incentive to locate their businesses in a certain area in Olney. And the enterprise zone that offers businesses tax incentives to locate their factories here.
Olney is not a metropolis and the younger generation moving out of the area is something that is just bound to happen. She feels that living in Olney is based on a feeling of belonging. She loves the fact that people speak of how friendly a town this is. The school district is great and we are fortunate enough to have a hospital that is growing and changing as needs change. She believes our lakes are a huge draw for people to come to Olney. Northern Illinois people come down for the use of the lake and end up purchasing property to stay. The white squirrels are also a huge draw for Olney and her concern is that with anything we must take care of it (them) or they will be gone.
Her most important statement to all of you is, “No matter who you vote for, just get out and vote.” Voting is something we all need to do to have our say in the day to day activities of Olney. Belinda has worked inside the workings of the city for many years and has almost an inside out view of the happenings. She hopes to work with the city manager and board to keep Olney financially stable and to protect the local resources that we have locally that are a tourist draw.
My meeting with Belinda went well and I didn’t feel as if I was sitting down with a politician but having a conversation with someone who loves Olney and wishes only the best for the town. When asked why she was running for Mayor she said, “It’s not a career move, I’m retired so I could travel and do so many things but I care about the community and think somebody needs to be in there especially with the money issues to watch those issues and work to make sure the city government is ran the way that in the 70’s it was voted on to run. Which is a city manager type of government, the mayor should stand back and let the city manager do their job unless he is doing something wrong. We have an amazing city manager right now. The council needs to let him do his job. And I have learned that and I understand the process. And if something falls apart then going to the city manager and asking what the problem is. I have worked with these people and have seen how the jobs mesh and I have seen where things can go wrong. So many small projects start as an idea and the council says look into it and a snowball effect happens. And you just can’t stop it once it’s started and you wonder how we have gotten to this point. And there are many good ideas that just don’t get followed through on.” As you can see she has the experience and plans for what she wants to do in office.
One of her biggest hope is that people will see we have to come together as a community because that’s what we are and we need to work together to make this the best community we can. She hopes that if she is elected she can work to make the whole council work together productively and not be divided. It’s a constant struggle to keep jobs, people, and resources here and we must work together to make those things happen.
I want to express my thanks to Belinda for sitting down and speaking to me. And everything I have stated here is my interpretation of what she had to say unless specifically quoted. And make sure you check out her page Belinda Henton for Olney Mayor on Facebook.
Check back tomorrow for the interview with Mark Lambird.
