Mokena's Front Porch Podcast
Welcome to Mokena’s Front Porch – THE podcast for Mokena history and community!
Nestled in the heart of Chicagoland, Mokena began as a small farming community that flourished after the Rock Island train line arrived in 1852. Today, with a population of over 20,000, its rich past continues to shape its future.
Your hosts:
🔹 Matt – A lifelong Mokenian, local historian, and author of two books on Mokena history. His blog, Matt’s Old Mokena, serves as the foundation for many of our episodes, bringing forgotten stories of the village back to life.
🔹 Israel – A passionate storyteller who grew up hearing firsthand WWII accounts from his grandfathers. Since moving to Mokena in 2016, he has embraced its history, working through technical challenges as a first-time podcaster to bring this show to life. He’s a BIG fan of Mokena!
Join us as we explore the people, places, and moments that make Mokena special. Visit MokenasFrontPorch.com for more stories, updates, and ways to connect. You can also find us on social media!
Pull up a chair, get comfortable, and step back in time with us on Mokena’s Front Porch.
Mokena's Front Porch Podcast
Frank Fleischer - Candidate for Mokena Mayor
Frank Fleischer has been the Village President of Mokena since 2013. He is running for re-election with a group of candidates as the "Mokena's Future" slate. Learn more about Mayor Fleischer and what his plans are for Mokena's Future.
We had a previous conversation with Mayor Fleischer and Mrs. Fleischer, that can be found on our YouTube page. You can watch and listen to all of our candidate interviews from our website's Local Elections pages! There are 2 now because we have some much to share!
Be sure to check out our website @ www.MokenasFrontPorch.com
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Check Out Our YouTube Channel For Some Great Videos
Find Matt's Blog here: Matt's Old Mokena
Photo & Artwork Credit: Jennifer Medema & Leslie V. Moore Jr.
Do you have a question, comment or maybe an idea for an episode, you can email us at:
MokenasFrontPorch@gmail.com
Music. We don't have any papers, we can't get the word out. What you're doing is so important for the residents because they need to look at where we're coming from our ideas and feel comfortable with us when they vote for us if they vote for us.
Speaker 2:Mr Mayor, thank you very much for sitting down and talking with me. Let me just start by saying, as our podcast goes, I consider it an honor to have a sitting mayor. Come and spend time and talk to us. You've been very open and opened your home to me with the conversation we did with Mrs Fleischer and yourself. I want to first also mention people might criticize me for either not asking too hard of a questions or not asking what they think are the right questions, but I wanted to start this as a way to get to know the mayor a little more as well as create an opportunity for you know people to maybe come up with their own questions that they can ask you and your slate as well. So again, thank you for joining me and just really appreciate it and your commitment and your appreciation as well of our podcast. Thank you very much. I want to talk a little bit first about kind of your past. You were elected initially as mayor in 2013, but you were village trustee for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was on the Zoning and Planning Commission from 1985 to 1987. And then I ran for trustee in one and I was on from 1987 to 2003. 14 years, yeah, 14 years.
Speaker 2:So what I'd really like to talk about is kind of those in-between years, because you ran twice where you lost right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, once for trustee and then once for mayor.
Speaker 2:So you know, I had a similar experience when I ran and I know that that process of putting yourself out there can be difficult and challenging. There can be difficult and challenging. Talk a little bit about going through that, having been a trustee and then running and losing. What did that do to you and what kept you from just deciding to pull back and not participate in public life after that second election especially?
Speaker 1:Everybody loses once in a while. Maybe they realize something. If they learn something by mistakes, then that's good, it was all worth it.
Speaker 1:If you don't, then that's the definition of insanity when you try to do it again the same way. And I enjoy it. I enjoy doing what I do and I might say I'm pretty good at it. I'm not trying to be blustery or beat my chest. I am pretty good. I better be because I've gone to a lot of seminars, a lot of conferences and I've learned what our job is as municipal officials.
Speaker 2:So talk a little bit about that. You mentioned some of the trainings and things you've gone through. Maybe share a little bit about that and then why you think that made you better prepared to be mayor.
Speaker 1:Well, and this is important, this is very important. Every year the Illinois Municipal League has a conference in downtown Chicago and they have sessions where you can go to. Sessions a topic that you might want to know about and go there, learn a little bit, talk to other elected officials, find out what they do in their town. This is very, very important. That's where I learned a lot, and there's other sessions throughout the year that you can go to. And you know, a few years back I went to the program through University of Illinois leadership program and understanding of UNICEF government, and I'm the only one in Mokena that ever did it, nobody else did it and how do you think that better prepared you for the job?
Speaker 1:for the job. You don't know what's going on until you get there. Like I said, I could have been a trustee for years and years for 40 years and didn't realize what the responsibilities of the mayor are. My job is to be a cheerleader for the village. I try to bring development into town. I want to work with them. I go to the chamber meetings. I try to get the chamber to understand that we need them to advocate for the village. If you work with all kinds of businesses, if you see a business that wants to move someplace, tell them about Mokina, how low the sales tax is. You don't pay any utility tax and that's my job to sell the village to people and get them out here.
Speaker 2:And talk a little bit about that. How does our village compare? I know we have the lowest tax rate in the surrounding area. How do we compare in that ways, when you're selling to other businesses, what's the high points?
Speaker 1:Well, the village portion of the property tax is the lowest in the little county and in our area. Seven and a half percent sales tax is unheard of. Frankfurt is eight, new Lenox is nine and Tilly and Arlen Park are in the stratosphere somewhere. So talking to people that live in Mokena, they say to me they paid the least amount to live in Mokena. It's a good town. Sometimes we're frugal to a fault, but it's your money. We have to be careful with that.
Speaker 2:I want to talk a little bit going back in February 2022, you had a serious health issue that kept you away till about June yeah, about four months. Wait till about June yeah, about four months. So talk a little bit about that and just kind of, maybe, if you can share what happened and then you know, reassure voters that you're up for another four years.
Speaker 1:Well, I've been back for two or three years, so I think I've showed voters that I can do this. Plus, I go to these different events. We had a last summer. We had an event with the kids the kids that you know, I don't know what you call them. I don't want to offend anybody, but we had it over in.
Speaker 2:New.
Speaker 1:Lenox and we had it by the special rent facility and the managers I mean the mayors were managers and the kids had a fantastic time and we had a nice time doing that. Now that's one of many things I go to.
Speaker 1:I'm a representative to the Wold County Center for Community Discerns. That's a community action agency. We assist the needy, the elderly and people that need assistance. But I belong to the County Economic Development Organization. I was on a committee there for a little bit to study the I-80 corridor. I'm also doing that with Orlin and Tenley Park. The mayors get to sit down, get together and talk about what we want to see in our corridor. South Suburban mayors and Managers I'm on that. I'm involved in their legislative committee. The Will County Governmental League I'm on that. So I've heard the same thing you have and it's a shame that somebody's passing around that kind of baloney and it's ridiculous because I'm fine.
Speaker 2:Okay, good to hear. I want to talk a little bit about. You have your slate of candidates, yes, so I'd like to maybe just give a brief introduction of who they are and why you chose them and why you think that they really do represent Mokena's future them and why you think that they really do represent Mokina's future, because they are independent people.
Speaker 1:They're not going to roll over just because I want something done. They're going to explain to me why they want to do it a different way, and I want people to do that. Change my mind. They want to do it a different way and I want people to do that. Change my mind. Don't just vote yes or no on something. Change my mind. And this is not what our opponents do. They talk before a meeting, they come into the meeting and they have their mind made up already. This happens time and time again. I want elected officials, trustees, that can think for themselves. That's going to make the town better. And I'll tell you, all of these people will think for themselves.
Speaker 1:Nick, he's an entrepreneur. He's a pastor, you know. He teaches religion and stuff like that. He's a good, solid guy. Jim Roberts you know he worked for the Shane's stores for a while. You know quite a bit and he was running the stores. He's good at what he does. His mind works very, very well. He looks at everything. Then he makes his decisions. And Kim we're very lucky to get her her background. She's a school teacher. She teaches government at Sandburg and she's just. These are three good people that I want everybody to vet them. Look at their background and see how good these people are.
Speaker 2:Anything else you want to share about them? You have Nick, kim and Jim yes, okay, and this will already have come out, but you're going to be hosting some meet and greets, one coming up this week as well as a number of others. What do you, you know, obviously hope for good turnout and people to come out, but you know, what can people expect?
Speaker 1:I believe that we should be accessible. They should ask us any questions that they want. They should vet us, not just vote for us because they like us. You should find out why you're voting for us. I put a lot of time in this village Decades. You know and ask me I better know what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:So one thought I had is you know, a leader has the ability to review successes and failures in their past and learn from them and correct their path going forward. So, looking back over the years, let me talk a little bit about a decision that you made as mayor that made me regret or wish you would have handled differently and learned from.
Speaker 1:There's been a few of those over the years, you know, allowing a development to go into an area that we shouldn't have. I made a few of those, but not many, thank God, and I think of the residents before I make a decision. I hope people understand that I don't just make flippantly make a decision and not try to figure out the impact it's going to have on their life. That's important to me and that's why I'm so against semis on 191st Street.
Speaker 2:Talk about that as a problem. Maybe a lot of residents don't. I mean we experience it and passing it and driving alongside of it. But what kind of residents don't? I mean we experience it and passing it and driving alongside of it? But what kind of effect does that have on the village?
Speaker 1:It has a horrible effect on the village. You wouldn't believe and I'm not exaggerating Israel. We probably have roughly 400 trucks give or take parking around Mokina. Part of them were in the county and part of them were in the village Stuff that was done over the years and stuff that was done recently. The people I'm running against allowed a GT Express business to come in there. Think about this. Okay, they went into a business park that is one of our best revenue generating parks and they let this trucking company go in there to make four out of the five lots parking lots. That's not generating any money for our schools, parks, libraries they're parking lots. Why would you do that? And where is that located? That's the one that's out there by Accelerate.
Speaker 1:Why would people make that decision? The only thing I can think of is they don't understand what they're doing. They don't realize the repercussions of what they've done, because I'll tell you what I don't care whose they're doing. They don't realize the repercussions of what they've done. No-transcript are unforgiving. When you get into an accident with a semi, you can pretty much be considered gone, and that bothers me because I don't ever want to see that happen. But I just I don't want any more semis and last year I tried to put a moratorium on it on semis on trucks until we get done with the comprehensive plan On semis On trucks. Until we get done with the comprehensive plan, not a word. Not a word. Nobody said anything about it. They didn't put it up for boat.
Speaker 2:They didn't do anything with it. It's as if it never happened. And you bring up the comprehensive plan. Talk a little bit about that. It's something you mentioned that you've tried to do in the past Twelve years ago when I first became mayor twelve years ago, and they stopped me from doing it.
Speaker 1:They wouldn't vote for it. My opponent would not vote for it. So what do you think changed now? Oh well, I was in an election coming up and I was still in the hospital and he pushed it while I was in the hospital so we could tell everybody oh look what I did. I put the comprehensive plan in, but where were you for 12 years? What were you doing for 12 years? That comprehensive plan is so important because it allows the residents to put their opinions in what they want their town to be. We got 20,000 people in the village of Mokena. There's seven of us. I don't want to make that decision for them. They have every right in the world to come to the. Come to the meetings. Look at when we're going to have open meetings to show people what we're doing, and I want them to come and give us their opinion, because that's very, very important to me. But that's our job. We can't just you don't just sit up there and play. It's not a monarchy.
Speaker 2:So the last strategic plan or master plan was it 2008? It was quite a while ago.
Speaker 1:I did the full plan. I did the full plan as a first-term trustee back in 1989. This was tweaked a little bit. Okay, it was tweaked a little bit, but we never did a full, comprehensive plan like we're trying to do now. So think about that how many things have changed since 1989?
Speaker 2:Everything, and that's ridiculous that they wouldn't do this. Well, some of the people that were because there was and I'm blanking on what year, but it was early 2000s that there was maybe a re-model and some of the criticism of people that I know that were involved in it was that they put a lot of time and effort into it and didn't feel like a lot of that came through or was a lot of it sat there being not accomplished. So how do we know that's not going to happen again this time?
Speaker 1:As long as I'm mayor, it's not going to happen and I'll back the person that runs after me. If they have the same philosophies, I do the person that runs after me. If they have the same philosophies, I do. It's time the group we're running again have been in power since 2003. 2003. Now I might be the mayor, but the trustees are the ones that vote on issues, so they've been obstructing many of the things I wanted to do, which was good for the village of Alkena, good for the town, good for the residents.
Speaker 2:So that's a good point. Talk about that. A lot of people criticize the village and the downtown and all that and will put it on you.
Speaker 1:Now you're the mayor and I understand that.
Speaker 2:But talk a little bit about the responsibility of the two roles.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's go with downtown.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I brought minutes from a workshop this was on March 11, 2019, that I had three consulting firms come in. One of the firms did Frankfurt, one of the firms did Naperville and the other firm is the one that's doing our comprehensive plan. Now they came and they told us what they wanted to do downtown. They wouldn't make a decision and this is the proof that they wouldn't make a decision because it was in workshop. We talked about it. They didn't want to do anything. I've wanted a downtown since I was a trustee. I felt that we could really have a downtown. A lot of people thought it was nuts. Wait, wait until you see how our downtown turns out when we're all done.
Speaker 2:I sure hope you're right and I know a lot of people in town you know really hope that you're right and would love to see that. You know we've seen some glimmering lights of hope that you know the tribes and then obviously whatever happened there and now the dock coming in. So there's potential, but it really seems like our downtown needs a kick in the butt.
Speaker 1:I took a poll four years ago when I ran for mayor, and I took a poll again this time. 70% of the residents makes no difference what age, what gender, who the heck they are want the downtown, and when the board doesn't pay attention to that kind of stuff, we've got a problem. We got to do what our residents would like us to do, and they've wanted the downtown for a long time and they're going to get it. If I get in there with the three people that are running for me, that's one of the first things we're going to do is push the downtown stronger than it is right now.
Speaker 2:So what are some things that you can do as mayor to push downtown? You talked about going out and promoting. Here's the big thing.
Speaker 1:We've got people that want to invest in downtown, but the reason they're not is because they don't know if the board wants it, because the board can never make up their mind. So what happens is if you're gonna invest millions of dollars and the municipal board, the village board, doesn't know what they want to do, you're not gonna put that money into town, downtown, because you don't know which way the wind is going to blow with these guys and that's why they're not doing it. I've talked to people that want to develop downtown. They want us to push for the downtown. They want to see us make that decision that we're going to go in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Now we potentially have this Franklin's coming in Possibly yes.
Speaker 1:It's never done until they sign on a dotted line.
Speaker 2:So there's been, as of now, there's been no sale of the property. Right, is it a right? It's a proposal? Yes, but you know it's a, it looks great. I mean, if that, something like that, comes through, you know that's a, the kind of thing that seems like oh, that'll be the catalyst for downtown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I met with him last year for the first time. We met and sat down and talked and went back and forth a little bit about what's going on. Then I went back out there with Brent and John. We talked to him again to find out how interested he was in it. And he's more and more interested. But he's going to want an incentive.
Speaker 2:Beyond the TIF incentive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now we have to make up our mind whether to do that. So it's not just giving money. The residents want a downtown. So if we're going to spend a little extra money for it, put the darn thing in. You know, these people pay taxes. They want something for it. Please give me something to do in my town. Yeah, and that's what we should be doing. We should be working with our residents to get something done and they should be seeing that we're trying. If we get this downtown, like I said before Israel, it'll be the catalyst for downtown. There's no doubt in my mind.
Speaker 2:So also right now downtown, and that lot is a lot that the village purchased Was it 2018 or 2019, I think purchased that, the old Terrafin property there and, you know, with the idea we're going to hold this and hopefully develop. So why do you think the village hasn't done more of that? We've got two large lots sitting on Front Street. You know what?
Speaker 1:I want to talk more about myself, but I can't. The person I'm running against did not want to buy strategic property downtown for this type of development. He said we are not developers. You're right, we're not developers, but we can hold the strategic piece of property. We're the ones that zone that piece of property and as the worth of that piece of property goes up because of our zoning, the village is going to get more money on it. So what is wrong with you? We should be the one controlling our own destiny with downtown. But he won't do it. He does not want to spend the money and I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:The residents in Waukeena deserve more. Some of these people, in fact a lot of them, pay a lot in taxes and they want something for it. And I think working our butts off and giving them a downtown will be a good start. And then a bicycle path, a walking path, you know. So the young people. Like I've told you before, when I was growing up, cars were the big thing. The younger people now want to be with their kids, they want to be on their bikes, they want to be able to go downtown and maybe see one of their neighbors with them, or maybe that's eating down. There, the kids can play together, the parents can sit down and talk. That's what they want, and I don't blame them. I think it's great, but we've got to give it to them.
Speaker 2:One of the thoughts of downtown also has been, you know, the train station and that was part of the previous master plan is moving it down, kind of where the military, that small military park is, or the one right at the end of Division Street, or maybe it was further down by the police station.
Speaker 1:It was working with the park district to bring it over to Walnut Industrial Park. Okay, and then put parking in there for the village and for the Park District. So when they have big events they got plenty of parking over there.
Speaker 2:Do you think that's still ever a chance or a possibility? Yeah, the Park.
Speaker 1:District wants to get moving, but again we're holding them up because people can't make a decision. Please make a decision, whether it's right or wrong, but make the decision. Don't just sit there and then give me a blank like the deer in the headlights stare. That's our job.
Speaker 2:Make a decision. So the park district has the large, you know, the farm field there sitting in between, you know, the downtown and the park district's property, which really becomes the second major area of our general downtown. What would you like to see with that farm field?
Speaker 1:Well, years ago when I was a trustee, I talked to a fellow by the name of Mike Pesteris. Okay, mike was the director of the Forest Preserve. So I went out there and we talked for a little bit and their plans were to put cross-country skiing trails in the Forest Preserve, tubing hills and other winter activity. And I want now now nationally, mike is going, but I want to give them a call and see if that's still on the books. Problem is we're not getting any snow. But that would be so nice for the town To have something like that in our town.
Speaker 2:that would be great yeah, that Hickory Creek Preserve is such an unsung treasure of Mokena and to have that access to that and I think tying it in and then with the Park District and you know they have the the frisbee golf back there that gets in the woods is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1:I fought for that years ago because people wanted to let the developer develop homes back there. So myself and this woman that lived over there called up Dr George Weir with the Morton Arboretum Please come out and walk the area and let us know if things need to be saved. He walked the area and came back and said you're going to destroy your ravine and that is going to destroy possibly 100 acres, and there was indigenous plants back there and everything. So I brought that to the board and said this is something we can't do and we didn't do it and that's a big deal out there because that's a beautiful Forest Preserve District. That's a beautiful area. I mean when the kids were growing up we walked that so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What would you call your most significant accomplishment so far as mayor?
Speaker 1:You know there's been a few of them the original comprehensive plan back in 89. The negotiating the boundaries with Orland and Tinley and New Lenox and Frankfurt, Because if we didn't do that then I really do think that Mokena might have been gobbled up on certain areas. I honestly feel that Tinley Park would be up 191st in the Grange if we didn't negotiate those boundaries. And that was very important that we get that done, Because you also have developers that play one village against another. We don't have that. We have the boundary agreement. That really was one of the most important things that I did on the board.
Speaker 2:And what's that process like? How do you go through annexing that section of unincorporated into Mokina?
Speaker 1:I just go through the process.
Speaker 2:Is it a vote by the residents of that area or the?
Speaker 1:municipalities agreement Sometimes.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we can force annex them, but that is the last thing I want to do. I don't like to play that game, because if they're surrounded on three sides by a village, we can force annex them. What I'd like to do is get them to understand and work with us about. This is what you get if you come into the village. We'd really like to Now, granted, there's going to be things that are a little stricter, but it's going to bring up the value of your home and will work with you. You're only going to be paying four extra cents on a dollar to come into Mocaina. That's all the tax is going to be, and really I think we should just find out what they want to do. I don't want to force them. Don't force them.
Speaker 2:Are there other areas that we're looking to expand still, or does that happen? Is it an ongoing thing changing borderlines?
Speaker 1:I'm looking around town now and I'm looking at areas that have older homes in the county. What I would like to do is rezone those commercial Grandfather in the people that are living there and then develop those as lifestyle areas, as commercial areas?
Speaker 2:What areas? Any in particular that you'd point out that you think would fit for that?
Speaker 1:I'm just going to take one, because I don't want to get anybody mad at me. Sure, arbery Hills, look at where that's located on 191st and LaGrange. That is a prime, prime piece of property.
Speaker 2:And as the years, go by.
Speaker 1:You know, if we do grandfather the homes in and rezone the commercial, you might see somebody come in and be interested in it. If you don't try, you don't get it.
Speaker 2:And speaking of that, one thing I've always thought is that downtown area of the industrial I forget you mentioned the name of what that street is called there, south of the tracks there and has there ever been a thought or an idea of moving that area or getting that industrial area Out?
Speaker 1:of here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe move to another area. Hold on Buster Park, yeah.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about that. Yeah, we've been talking about that. We have to sit down in earnest and talk to Mr Bunch and tell him that this is getting dangerous. There's a lot of semis going down there to pick up his product and we've got to sit down. I don't want to make a deal that's going to hurt him, but I also want to make a deal that's going to be good for my residents.
Speaker 2:I've seen semis come down First Street before and it gets a little hairy.
Speaker 1:It is a little hairy, yeah, and we've got to stop that. We've got to stop it because we can get rid of that industrial park and then bring 195th Street into McGovernie on the north side of the Mr Yonkers Farm. Now we open up that whole area there For the people that live east. That's all they have to do is come down that road to come into the downtown. Right now they have to go around in each direction. This way they can come right in. We get more restaurants in there. They're more accessible.
Speaker 1:It's the prime potential development area, Like I said this is what's driving me nuts over the years is that I could see this. It's always been my vision to have a downtown, but people don't see it. Oh, we'll never have a downtown. We'll never have a downtown Baloney. Do you see what happened when Debbie put the trucks out there? How many people showed up downtown?
Speaker 2:They've been great. Don't you dare tell me that we can't have a downtown. That's baloney. Those nights have really shown that mokina desires something downtown, like they want to have a place to have music going and food and just hanging out like that. We talk about community and you know that's how you breed a sense of community. You have things that you go to and you see a neighbor and you talk to, or you meet a new neighbor or you know you meet the teachers that are in all those things and those that food trucks event has been a prime example.
Speaker 1:Exactly, israel. You know, when I was brought up in Chicago, people sat on the front porch. You know everybody. You'd walk down the street you'd say hello Mr Illion, hello Mr Giacomo, and stuff like this. You knew everybody. And now people they come home, pull their car in the garage, go in the house and they don't come out until they're going to work the next day.
Speaker 2:It's true. It's true. One question I had is thinking about along those lines. You know how does and this is a problem Mokina has dealt with for years. I read about it back in the eighties and even when you first came in, Mokina was going through a change and a growth, development and progress, and I feel like we're in a similar time. There's a lot of potential, growth and things changing. How does a village like Mokina go through that growth but balance, kind of our small town community feel, you know, without losing? You know, nothing is Orland, but we don't want to be in Orland, or necessarily.
Speaker 1:That's our slogan Planned, planned. You know, respect here it is respect the past, the past, but plan for the future. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to respect the past and never forget our past, but we've got a plan for the future and we can do it. We can keep the small town, okay. There's no reason we can. You just have to work at it.
Speaker 2:So talk about that. I love seeing the you know, respect the past, obviously being history, and Molkina's history. That's very important.
Speaker 1:But what does that mean to you? I've been lucky over the years to know some of the people that lived here for a long time. Bill Weber was one of them, rob Horse was another one and you know Roy had a butcher shop on Front Street and then Ken came in and bought it from Roy and this was fun. I love to know the history of Mokena Because I think I told you before when we came out to Mokena for the first time, mr Yunker was bringing the cows across the port. Yeah, and that was it.
Speaker 1:Laurie saw that and she wasn't going to go anyplace else. Then we drove through downtown and it said washing a horse blanket is prohibited, so we can do it. You know we can do it, just like when people say, well, you can't do this, it's going to cost money. You know we built a police station, we upgraded our sewage treatment facility. We spent $25 million, didn't raise anybody's taxes and I had to sign a promissory note for $5 million. We could have paid the promissory note off already, but we were getting more interest on a promissory note than we were paying, so we just let it ride.
Speaker 2:And that's a great thing, Talking about that. One of the things that came up as the village is considering doing a new village hall. Yes, yes, so talk about you know why do we need a new village hall and what does that bring, or how does that make our village better?
Speaker 1:Every building has a life cycle and the village hall is pretty much past it, but a long one, yes. And the thing that's a little scary, it's a little old underneath there and we don't know how really bad it is, you know, because there's still water that seeps in there and stuff like that. So I don't like our employees working in that condition, that situation. So I would like to see us build a new village hall. I mean, we deserve it. Did you see how proud the people were of that police station?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1:It was awesome walking through it. People were really people in town were really proud of that police station. I mean, this is a great town. They felt that it was theirs. That's what's neat about Mokena. They felt that it was theirs. That's what's neat about Mokena they felt that it was theirs.
Speaker 2:And what do you envision for a village hall? You could wave your wand today. What would you do?
Speaker 1:I want to build a nice building. That is not the Taj Mahal. Look at how things are going to change in the future. Okay, with being able to get stuff done online or you know, whatever it is. Let's not build a big village hall. Let's build a nice one, get a nice piece of property. But I don't want to get carried away because you see some of these municipalities. You want to talk about Taj Mahal. My God, you think there were pharaohs building their. The mayors were building their tombs, for God's sake. But no, I don't want to make it a super. I want it to be. I want it to be a good facility that's going to do the job that it's supposed to do.
Speaker 2:What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Mokina over the next five to ten years?
Speaker 1:You know we've got some challenges, but we've corrected any problem that we were going to have with the water. The water's taken care of until 2050 and beyond. We got the police station, we upgraded the sewage treatment facility. We're going around to different roads. You know neighborhood roads that need to be worked on, so we're taking care of that. We're buying vehicles when we need them, so maybe we're going to have some challenges coming up, but I don't see them.
Speaker 1:When you take care of your money and you watch yourself, there's a lot you can do, yeah, and we do a pretty good job of not getting carried away with spending money. I always say some of these towns spend money like drunken sailors and that's a shame because they think it's monopoly money. They forget that it's the residents' money and that's our job to protect that money and protect them. The only thing we haven't touched on I will go back a little bit and I do have something that could hurt us Our road system stinks. If you look at Mokena's road system, look at how crowded LaGrange Road is and look at what's happening to Wolf Road, look at how backed up it's getting. We have no other road north and south. We don't have a road east and west, a good road, a good road like 159th east and west, and then you got to go all the way out to 30. We need and again, okay.
Speaker 1:For 12 years I've been trying to get the board to understand that we need to do a comprehensive traffic study for a couple of reasons. We need to know. You see, when you don't do it, then subdivisions pop up all around you. Now how are you going to get through? How are you going to extend these roads? That's why it's so important. It should have been done 12 years ago, israel, not now. What we're doing is kicking the can down to the next boards that are coming up, and it's going to be a pain in the butt and the other thing that's important is that you need to do a traffic study if you want to get grant money.
Speaker 1:Grant money comes if you give them, you know, a phase one traffic study, because if I go up to them and say we need a road right here, they're going to say, okay, you got a study, oh, no, I just think we need a road right there. You know what's going to happen to you and this is what's hurting Mokena getting grant money. We got to do this kind of stuff. That's what we have to do. We got to show this kind of stuff. That's what we have to do. We've got to show a need for it with a traffic study.
Speaker 2:What would the solution be for a Wolf Road?
Speaker 1:I mean, the idea of expanding Wolf Road is kind of a scary thought. No, we might have to, and that's the point I'm making. We might have to go someplace else. I don't know, I'm not a scary thought. No, we might have to, and that's the point I'm making. We might have to go someplace else. I don't know, I'm not a traffic engineer, you know. But we need somebody to say okay, Mokena, this is what we need to do, Because look at what's going on with 80th Avenue at Thinley Park. That's looking ahead. That is going to be a major road going south. That's going to be very, very important. But we've got to drive all the way down to 80th Avenue, maybe come all the way back. We've got streets here that we could have done that with and we didn't. We just let it go Israel, and that's not fair. That's not fair to the future residents of Mokina, the future boards, the future mayors.
Speaker 2:Well, mr Mayor, I'm sure we could talk a lot longer, as we have in the past. We're coming close to an hour about 50 minutes yeah yeah. So I just want to give you an opportunity. You know, take, you know, some time and just share with us, the voters, why we should trust you with four more years, as well as you and your slate, why you're the best thing for Mokina.
Speaker 1:I've already proven myself to people. I've already proven what you see is what you get. You don't have to vet me. You can just see what I've accomplished over the years. What you get, you don't have to vet me. You can just see what I've accomplished over the years.
Speaker 1:When I came on board Israel, our sales tax in 2013 was $3.7 million. This last fiscal cycle it's $0.884 million. So we've more than doubled our sales tax and we're going to do more of that. We're going to get more and that's what my job is, and if people were listening to what I was saying and understood it just a little bit, they should see why I deserve another four years, because I know what I'm talking about. When it comes to this stuff, I've been doing it long enough. We need to get number one the comp plan done. Number two, a comprehensive traffic study. And number three, get our butts moving on the downtown. And then, number four, get the damn trucks out of here. Get them out of Mokena. We don't need them on 194th Street. We have a lot of our you know a lot of our cars and stuff like that pedestrian cars and things that are driving, you know, in and out of Mokena. I don't like mixing them with semis, and we've got a lot of semis Way too many of them.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, great, I really appreciate again you spending time to talk. Do you want to again share? You guys have a website, I believe, which we'll put on the screen as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've got a Facebook page and we also have a web page, wwwmokinasfuturecom. Then you'll get to see the people that are running. You'll see the dates that we're going to have our meet and greets. You just be there. We don't want nothing. You just be there. You'll have coffee and pastry and ask whatever questions you want, because we're not afraid to answer them. We know what we want to do, we know what needs to be done in Mokena, and it's not brain surgery, just do it Again.
Speaker 2:Mr Mayor, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me. Please remember to vote on April 1st in the municipal elections, or by April 1st, and we're going to be having more of these videos with the rest of the mayor's slate, and so check out our website and thanks for watching.
Speaker 1:Thank you for doing this, because I've told you once before, we don't have any papers, we can't get the word out. What you're doing is so important for the residents because they need to look at where we're coming from our ideas and feel comfortable with us when they vote for us if they vote for us. So this is very important to be able to get our you know, our dreams out, our ideas, and you know just things like that, where we want our vision.
Speaker 2:I truly believe that when you're running, you should communicate. You should be out there getting your message out, talking and meeting people. So thank you for doing that and thank you for the opportunities. I know I'll be checking out some of the meet and greets and I hope you will too. So thanks again. Thank you, Israel, you very much.
