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
Melissa Fedora - Candidate for Mokena Village Trustee
Melissa Fedora is the Executive Director of the Mokena Chamber of Commerce and a current Village Trustee, running for her second term. She is running with the Friends of Mokena slate, who's website is www.friendsofmokena.com
You can watch all of our candidate interviews, campaign events and election updates on our website and YouTube channel.
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
All right, melissa, thank you for sitting down with me. I know you're no stranger to the camera You've been doing stuff with the chamber and all that for years but I appreciate you kind of taking a different role Maybe the one being interviewed this time, right. But again, I really appreciate it. I think this has been a great opportunity for voters to be better informed about who's running and kind of some of the different issues too.
Speaker 2:It definitely has, and thank you for that.
Speaker 1:So just start, maybe tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:Sure, I was not originally from Mokina, I was from a little bit closer out your way, where you lived briefly as well. So I grew up in I say Mattson, because otherwise people think I'm talking about Wisconsin, but it's actually pronounced Madison, m-a-t-t-e-s-o-n just east of here.
Speaker 1:I've never called it Madison. I lived there for nine years, 11 years, and never called it. It's always Mattson.
Speaker 2:Yes, their mayor Strickler. Back in the day with the handlebar mustache, he would hand out little cards with the correct pronunciation.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's funny he was very, very adamant about it and he even made the metro train re-record their recording for their stop. So I'm very aware that it's a little controversial how you pronounce it, but I'm just so tired of having to say not Wisconsin. So whatever way you want to pronounce it, that's where I was originally from. I went to St Lawrence O'Toole School, also in Madison, which has now since closed, unfortunately. They have a beautiful stained glass church, but that's closed as well. A lot of those churches out that way have closed and the schools. And then I went to Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights. That's an easy one to pronounce, sure, and of course you call it the Heights if you're from out there, what?
Speaker 1:was that like High school? What was Marian like then?
Speaker 2:Okay, so in high school I kind of tried to fly under the radar. I did do some choir, though, and some theater that was kind of more my thing and journalism I wrote for the school newspaper and I did find myself in a little bit of a controversial spot there.
Speaker 2:Really, uh-huh, that was a little foreshadowing too for something that happened later on in my career, but I wrote so typically Marian Catholic, you would graduate at the World when it was the World, sure. So that was very exciting get to walk across the stage. You know, and it was still newer back then, obviously, back then, obviously. And the year that it was our senior year, they, like halfway through our year, announced that they wanted to move the graduation to the at the time very new Tinley.
Speaker 2:Park Convention Center that was connected to the Holiday Inn and of course you know, after four years of looking forward to this and all your friends before you all got to graduate, the world. We don't want to be in some convention center. You know, it's a lovely place, no offense, but it's not the world. So I wrote this piece, oh, and then they took a vote and they did some goofy. The administration did some goofy things with the numbers. I will stand behind that.
Speaker 1:The students took a vote.
Speaker 2:Yeah well the admin hosted the vote and they said I think I'm trying to remember this now I think the vote did come back the world. But then they said, oh well, we can't go there because X, y, z, nonsense reason which I don't believe, and they made the numbers like a lot closer than I truly believe they were. So I wrote this article about it and we had this wonderful journalism teacher. He just retired from Marian Catholic just this past year.
Speaker 1:He let me write this article and I thought it was very fair.
Speaker 2:I thought it talked about both sides, but I should try to find it one day. I'd probably laugh at it now. But the director of student activities or something called me into his classroom and cornered me and said like you better not write this article. And I fought back, which was not like me. Back then I again was like flying to the radar, very quiet, didn't want to get in arguments with authority, but I stood my ground. My journalism teacher backed me. The article came out. I'll never forget. It was a Friday and again a girl who tried to fly into the radar. I had people I'd never talked to before coming up to me in the halls, high five, and saying good job, you stood up for us. Like I respect you. Thank you so much for writing that. That's what we've all been wanting to say and that's what we've all been thinking. So that was pretty validating.
Speaker 2:And I think you have these small moments as you grow up that kind of give you the strength so that when you're an adult you do have it in you to stand up for things that you think you should push back on or stand up to. So that was probably one of my first moments of going through that and I mean I wish I had a better ending, but we ended up graduating at the Tilly Park Convention Center.
Speaker 1:I didn't even want to go to my graduation.
Speaker 2:I don't think I even brushed my hair. I mean, I just showed up and was like, let's just do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how did you feel after, like putting up a fight for the other side and then you lose and you kind of have to go sit through what you fought against it?
Speaker 2:wasn't fun. But you know, at that age you're in, you're in high school, like you're kind of, you're still, you're still kids, you're still used to like kind of being told no, it's just you know because.
Speaker 2:I said so and you just move on. So yeah, it wasn't the best, but I mean it made for a great memory. And then, later on in my career, I kind of had to do something similar when I worked for a newspaper. I had to stand my ground on something and I ended up leaving the paper which I loved working at. I could get into I don't know what your next line of questioning is I might roll into that.
Speaker 1:Go ahead and talk about that, okay, so after? Well, how about this? Talk about? And we can go a little bit back more, but you end up in journalism.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So when I went to what's kind of the brief road to journalism? Then tell your story.
Speaker 2:So that really sparked something in me. Obviously, I had already decided at that point, though, that I was going to Columbia College for journalism, which is one of of the best schools, and it happens to be located right here. I just jumped on the Metro in Mantison and took that train right up there on the electric line. So first I did a year at Prairie State College just to get the gen eds done, you know, just paid my way through that, trying to take out as small of a loan as possible, so paid my way through that the first year. Then I was able to get Columbia done in three years, and all the while I was still taking like the gen ed classes at night, on weekends, over the summer, I was just like go, go, go all the time. I didn't like school, but I did love college because you were able to kind of more do your own thing and pick your own classes and really focus on. Columbia is very, very focused on your major. You don't have to take a lot of these other kind of goofy classes.
Speaker 1:Is it rigid or is it more of a loose, like an art school You'd think of, kind of a loose.
Speaker 2:It is. It is like mostly an art school, but then it has that component of journalism. So ours was probably a little more rigid than most, but it was still a really laid back school and I mean, you're on Michigan Avenue, it was just absolutely beautiful. And to get to be in the city what? Four days a week, it was very, very cool.
Speaker 2:So I had decided when I was very young that I was going to go to Columbia I mean I'm talking like kindergarten, because my mom's friend said something about so when I was little. Of course, like every little kid, I wanted to be an actress or a singer, but then you start to realize how, even as a kid, I knew how hard that would be. Like it's like a one in a million shot. So my mom had said, well, you know, if you like being on TV and you like talking and communicating, my mom would say, well, if you like being on TV and you like talking and communicating, why don't you do what the news people do, and the Channel 5 news, whatever the broadcasters?
Speaker 2:I thought, well, yeah, that would be a good way to do something. You work your way, you don't have to hope for a lucky break. It just seemed like a more surefire way to do something, then that's why I did the class in high school. Then, sure enough, I went to college. One of the big disappointments for me, though, was and it could have changed my life really so Tom Skilling was always the weather teacher there, the meteorology teacher at Columbia oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so when you took journalism, everybody took his class, whether they wanted to go in weather or not. You just took it. Well, I thought weather was actually something I might want to explore, so I wanted to take it. And I want to say, like my first year there, I couldn't take it yet. And then after that he didn't teach there anymore. I don't know if he ever went back.
Speaker 2:So I still took this meteorology class and I ended up dropping it. It was terrible. It was not meteorology. It was taught by this very, very I think it was like his. I don't even think he had his full teaching degree. I think he was like a first-year student and it was more about like it wasn't about weather, it was about like ground, and it was actually so over my head too. It was more like I don't even know, like a geology class, I don't know.
Speaker 1:so it's all the science, more the deep into the science of weather yeah.
Speaker 2:So I ended up, um, having to drop it and never got into weather. And you know, now I watch all these girls on tv, these ladies. I'm like could have been me, but wasn't Cheryl Scott. No, I'm teasing you, but I did end up with a concentration in radio. So I did journalism with concentration in radio, which is really a fun component. I mean you don't have to be camera ready, so that's kind of nice.
Speaker 2:I did have a teacher, alan Stagg. I don't know if some people would remember him. He had this show at night on the drive and maybe before the drive. I forget what channel he was on, maybe XRT. It was called Sanctuary. It was a really neat show. So I had him two times. It was wonderful. I loved doing that. But what I really enjoyed was writing for radio. They would my favorite thing. They give us like the front page news story Okay, so it's like three pages right after you turn it and you'd have to take that and you'd have to turn that into like a 20 second. You'd have to whittle that down to like a 20 second radio spot. So that was really fun. To just pull out the main bullet points. You had to cut like you had to figure out what to cut, what was fluff and what was like the who, what, where, when, why. So that was really neat.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I graduated from there and then was hoping to, you know, find something. It's sort of a double-edged sword living in Chicago because you're fortunate that you have, you know, these big local stations and most of our teachers at Columbia were working professionals either in radio, print TV. But the hard thing is you really have to move. In most cases you have to move to a smaller market and then work your way back to Chicago. You don't just say hello, nbc.
Speaker 1:I'm here.
Speaker 2:So you know, I struggled with that and I really didn't want to move and I just really wasn't in a place to do that. You know, I struggled with that and I really didn't want to move and I really I just really wasn't in a place to do that, you know. So I ended up um finding. Luckily, not long after I graduated I moved to um Frankfurt and that was my first time moving out of the house because I commuted to school, so I lived at home to save money. So I I moved to downtown Frankfurt and I was just walking down the street and this woman walked up to me and said I'm doing this feature called Faces in the Crowd. I don't know if you remember this.
Speaker 2:I worked for a brand new newspaper that we're just getting ready to launch. It's called 22nd Century Media, is the company and it's the Frankfurt station, and we do this little piece where we ask people in the crowd, um that you know they sometimes go to library, they walk down the street, wherever they are, they ask five people a question and then they take their picture and then they put their answer and it's like lighthearted stuff. So she had asked me, um, what my favorite movie was, I think. So I answered this question. She takes my picture and then, of course, I'm like I just graduated journalism school a couple months ago, I think, it was like one month ago. I'm like are you hiring? And she's like we absolutely are.
Speaker 1:So she whisked me right into their office.
Speaker 2:Their office was in downtown Frankfurt at the time. It then moved to Orland and now it has unfortunately since closed, but it was in the building where the Frankfurt Bowling Alley is in.
Speaker 2:But it was on the first floor. So they whisked me into this office and, like before you know it, I'm like on this interview and she's introducing me to people, and so I ended up starting there as a stringer, a freelancer, so just like kind of paid per news article that you'd go out and do. And then eventually they were launching so at the time it was only the Homer paper and the Frankfurt paper, but then they were getting ready to launch the Orland Park paper so they needed another full-time person. So then I was able to come on and I was the assistant editor of all three. Wow yeah. So that was very exciting. And then the next paper they launched was Nulonix and I think after that was Mokina.
Speaker 1:So how often were you writing articles when you were as a freelancer?
Speaker 2:Um, like probably one a week, maybe two sometimes.
Speaker 1:So was that full time? Are you still working? Yeah?
Speaker 2:So I also. No, it was not full time. You're just paid per article. I want to say you're getting maybe, like it depended how long of a day that you had there and how many pictures they needed and the length of it, but it was like between like 40 and 60 bucks.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah, so no, it was not paying all the bills.
Speaker 2:Almost oh wow. So I worked there for a little while and then there was something that kind of happened there where the publisher wanted to write, wanted to. How could I say this without saying this? I mean, I just I don't want to pull him into anything, but our publisher at the time, who was a Google-able person, former politician as well wanted the editor at the time to write in her, because we always had a letter from the editor you know your editorial in every page. I think it was like on page four.
Speaker 2:He wanted her to write this article saying that one of the villages was not being supportive of us and not giving us their legal notices because of course, the paper was free, so it was all run on advertisements and that's how they were funded. So he wanted us to write this stuff about these legal notices. And we knew why. We knew why we weren't getting the legal notices because we had already talked to that village's mayor about it, because we would be at events with that mayor and talk to the mayor all the time, because of having the right articles and having to get quotes and being at events that he was at. And we knew it was just because the time out that it took to publish the paper, like to send it to print. To get it printed then to bring it back was such a long amount of time and legal notices have to be out so many days in advance legally and the turnaround time was just too long. So he was going more with the dailies and there was a lot more of those at the time you had, like Southtown Star and all these other papers. So I mean, that was the only reason why. So it was more on us. If we could make our lead time shorter, we could get the legal notices, which was what we were trying to tell the publisher.
Speaker 2:He wasn't having it. He wanted us to just sm't appreciate that we have this local paper in town. And so the editor fought back, said I'm not doing that, that's not right. I have to interview this person tomorrow, you know. And so then she was let go. Then I was asked on a Sunday in the middle of a football game. I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2:I was at my house. I got the call. You know, um, she's no longer here with us. Um, you know you're the assistant, so obviously you'll take the role, Um. And I said, well, of course, that's wonderful, and I was getting ready to launch the new Linux paper that was going to be my paper. I was gonna be the editor of that one, and this was right around the corner. I'd actually already, um, we'd already hired my, my, my, assistant. Um, I said, well, of course, that's wonderful, but will I now be expected to write this piece? And they said, well, of course. And I said, well, this isn't going to work. So writing was on the wall. I quickly went in the next day and gave my letter of resignation and had to leave my very first job, which was horrible, Horrible.
Speaker 2:It was my first time having a salaried job. I obviously needed the money. It wasn't much, but it was money and I loved what I did and just all of a sudden I'm just gone out of these three towns just like that. So that was kind of a traumatic experience. But it reminded me of that high school experience when I stood my ground and said, no, this is not right, I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to lose my journalistic integrity. I remember was what I said and I stand behind it.
Speaker 2:So then that was really my last time in media because then after that I switched over to marketing. I had made connections because I was in Frankfurt with the owners of CD& Me in Frankfurt and I mean they didn't have a website. They had like a very, very, very basic website, like a one-page website, and they weren't on Facebook yet Facebook was still you know, all this was still newer. So it's not like they were way behind the times, but they knew it was time to get there. So they brought me on as their marketing person and so I did the website for the banquet facility, then also for their sister business, which is Gervais, the landscape company. So I helped with their website and social media and the VIP experience I was in charge of. So it just kind of transitioned into that.
Speaker 2:And then I've just sort of stayed more in the marketing lane ever since, which isn't terrible, because also at the same time the media landscape just completely changed. I mean, look at how many newspapers are gone, and it still continues to change. Look at the legacy media now, like their budgets are being cut, they're laying people off. So I think I kind of got in media at maybe not the best time, but you know it all led me here. So it's okay. But I'm not a weather woman, you can see that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So talk about how you ended up coming to Mokina and how long? You've been here.
Speaker 2:So my CD&ME position was only part-time and I needed something more, and I was. I was bartending there on the side as well, but you know, I'm like starting to get a little bit older. I mean not that I was probably in my mid to late twenties, but kind of looking for something more at this point, because I was at CDME for a handful of years. So I had heard about the job that was available at the chamber. This was also part-time, though, but I thought, well, maybe we can grow it into something full-time and spoiler alert, I did so. I went to apply. It was very, very, very last minute to when I saw it. I think the day I saw it was the deadline day Did you know many people in Mokina, then no.
Speaker 2:No, not really. And I didn't know where the chamber office was in Mokina. I had to Google and figure out where am I going for this interview. So I it was, and I'll never forget I almost canceled it. I knew I was last minute. I was kind of hesitant on it. I did not know Mokina very well at all. This was 2009. I mean, I knew I lived in Frankfurt, I obviously did come out here and shop, but I mean I didn't like know it, know it. So I almost canceled that day. It was a rainy, dreary day. It rained all morning, one of those just cold. It was November, cold November days. And I just was thinking I'm not, I don't know how to run a chamber. You know, you start getting that doubt in your head, sure. So I'm like I should just cancel. And then I thought no, because some friends knew that I was going to this interview and I'm like, oh, they're going to give me so much grief if I don't go, because they were really pushing me along and encouraging me.
Speaker 1:And what did you know of the chamber and what made you think I mean, I don't know if it's something what made you think you could do that job? Well, that's exactly what I was saying to myself.
Speaker 2:What makes me think I can?
Speaker 1:do this job.
Speaker 2:I liked the special events part of it, because I did help with a lot of that stuff at CD&ME and there was a lot of communications in there, because I knew Constant Contact, because that was another thing that I started when I was at CD&ME was their email blast. I set up all their Constant Contact and that was one of the things that they wanted you to know for the chamber job. So I was checking some boxes along the way. But, yeah, I'm like I'm in my late twenties, I like businesses. I don't, I don't know. So there was some things I had doubt on. So I finally I like drag myself to the shower and get ready and I go to this interview. It's pouring rain, it's cold.
Speaker 2:At the time, um, the chamber was in the building on wolf road just north of aurelio's pizza where the yoga studio is now. Um, and they were, they had torn out the parking lot, they were like repaving it. So I'm like trying to figure out where to park and you know I'm in heels, not knowing I'm gonna have to like walk across this gravel. So I finally and it's pouring rain, so I get in there. I was a mess and then I had to sit down at a table about the size of your table and there was four people in the room and I'm like, well, this isn't intimidating, I'm like sitting here four people around me.
Speaker 2:I already have this doubt creeping in my head, but I just started talking to them. It was actually. It was Mary Martin of Martin Heating and Cooling, sharon Filkins, who actually worked at the village for a while, although she had retired by that point, edjian Kauskas, who still lives in Mokina, and Lee Kaz, who still lives in Mokina and has a business in Mokina. So I just started talking to them and you know, it was just one of those things where we all just clicked immediately and I think I ended up sitting there for like two hours.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Didn't feel like two hours. Never felt like it was on the spot. I was just clicking with these people and with this job, like beyond my wildest dreams. So I get ready to you know, I'm packing up my things finally after two hours and I'm leaving. And I remember I said to the I was at the door, I turned around and I said you know, if you don't pick me, I just want you all to know I just had like the best two hours with the four of you and I wish you guys the best for this organization and for the town.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was and everybody like we all, I think we all, like some of us, even hugged. So I leave and as I'm driving home, I'll never forget it this huge rainbow went over Wolf Road as I was driving back, as I was driving south, and I'm like this has to be a sign.
Speaker 1:It must be yeah.
Speaker 2:So this was late on a Friday, and then I got the call Monday morning that they wanted me to have the job.
Speaker 2:I couldn't believe it. So then we got very busy. It was right around the holidays. Our first event was the Christmas parade. I mean just had to like jump right into everything. And then we had our inauguration dinner in January and that first year is a whirlwind because you have to get through the first year to do all the events, the golf outing, the 4th of July parade I had never been to the 4th of July parade.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. And then you have to run it.
Speaker 2:And I cut my toe the night before.
Speaker 1:Oh, no Bad.
Speaker 2:Bad. I was on a friend's boat in Shanahan and we were can, like you put the anchor down Sandbar Sandbar Thank you, yes.
Speaker 2:So I'm walking along that and some boat had the rope on their anchor like way too long because this boat's way out there. So I'm walking, thinking I'm fine, and I like kicked this anchor as I was walking. Oh my gosh, on my big toe cut it open, bad, bad, but it was a way where, like you, couldn't really stitch it so and we were spending the night on the boat and I was going to just get in my car and drive straight here the next morning. I believe that year was a year of the parade was at noon Cause it was a Sunday, so I had a little extra time. But I mean I, so I, I get here, I had, and that year the chamber was, we had an entry in the parade, um, so I now have to get myself with this wrapped up and I had on flip. I was so unprepared, no one told me how big this parade was.
Speaker 2:I had to walk from the chamber office all the way to line up at the Oaks and then walk in the parade. I ended up hitching a ride on the VFW. It might have been Mayor Joe Warners, it was somebody's. It was their deuce and a half their military transport vehicle. They were already packed in and I'm hobbling down the road and I knew some of the guys from that VFW because I would go to the Frankfurt VFW and some of them were the same. So I'm waving them down like help, help and they threw me in the back. They had already taken the ladder down and people were sitting on a ladder, so they literally threw me in the back and they drove me to my spot and then I was on the vehicle.
Speaker 2:I was on, we had a flatbed and we were handing out bags for businesses. So businesses had paid to have these bags pre-stuffed and then we handed them out along the way and then the kids could use those bags as their candy bags. We still sort of do that today, but it's a little different now how we distribute it and it was so hot. We get to the end of the parade and we were in Mary Martin's back parking lot at Martin Heating and Cooling and it was gravel at the time and I'll never forget I went to step off and like everything went white and Lynn Ingram from Image 360 and Lee Kaz both like grabbed me and they like basically dragged me into the office and Lee's kids, his twins they were young at the time and like they're taking care of me.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was a mess, but I learned how big that parade was after that experience and now I am prepared. Yeah, no, going on a boat the night before. Get a good night's sleep no, going on a boat the night before, get a good night's sleep, um, and then, well, and then in 2014, um, I was pregnant with my son and I went into labor like two hours after the parade, but I made it through the parade oh my gosh. Cindy gamboa told me no baby till after this parade, and so I listened yeah gamboa tells you something.
Speaker 2:You listen.
Speaker 1:That is funny. Wow. So then when did you move into Mokina?
Speaker 2:So I moved into Mokina. Well, our house was on the market while I was pregnant with my son. Unfortunately, the housing market was not great back then, and that house was on the market for about a year Wow yeah. So doing the commuting and finally it sold. And when it sold, though, then there wasn't. I think schools were just kind of going back in, so there wasn't a lot on the market at that time, because people wanted to be moved in before the start of school. So I was very limited, and a lot of the houses throughout that year that I had been looking at had sold because I had to sell our house so that we could afford that house. We needed the monies, so a lot of the houses I looked at were gone. I looked at one over here, I looked at the one Terry lives in. I mean, I'd still drive by these houses and I'm like I was in that house.
Speaker 1:I liked that house.
Speaker 2:And then there was one house on the market that I had looked at online and I just kind of thought, eh, I don't know.
Speaker 2:It had a washer and dryer in the kitchen and I just thought, eh, I don't know, it seems weird. And my realtor Lincoln Way Realty it was Joe Swinsky and I had looked at some houses and just none of them were clicking. And Joe said what about that house on Mokena Street? I'm like, yeah, I don't know, joe. I'm like it's kind of washer and dryer in the kitchen, like the whole thing is just kind of like I don't know.
Speaker 2:It's just, I don't know, I just dismissed it. He's like, melissa, don't you history of that house? Well, I too love history, like you all, and I mean matt galick and I. He, he does projects for us, for the chamber, so I'm like there's history to the house. No, do tell. So he told me that it was, uh, clyde and dorothy yunker's house. Who? That would be? Dell and joe. So that was dell yunker's parents. Dell of, of course, was married to Joan Yunker, and Joan Yunker and Del he had passed by this point, but Joan and Del helped us for years and years at the chamber with the Food and Wine Festival, and Joan actually helped cover the office, like right after I had my son. So I'm like in communication with Joan through all this and I had no idea.
Speaker 1:Oh, how cool.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, all right, I'll take a look at the house, You've convinced me. And I didn't realize too that the backyard was against Yunker Farm, which I love farms, I love farms. So I said, all right, joe, I will look at this house. And I remember the second we walked in the front door I was like this is the house, we just knew it. And it's not that it was anything magnificent or anything special, it just had that vibe. You know you just sometimes your gut just tells you, just like it did in that interview with the chamber. So we bought that house and actually I'll tell you, having the, the, so the people that lived there before me, the lady she had bad knees so she couldn't go up and down the stairs to where the washer and dryer were, so she put a stackable in the kitchen and took out a cabinet. But having a now one-year-old by this point, having that washer and dryer upstairs was so nice.
Speaker 2:Otherwise I would have had to have brought him down the stairs with me and the laundry, because I wouldn't want to leave him upstairs, and then I would have been carrying all this, him and the clothes back up. So it actually was wonderful. You just had to make sure you coordinated like laundry and dinner at the same time. We eventually did redo the kitchen and move it back downstairs, because my son is now 10, um, but I yeah, it was. It actually was a blessing to have that upstairs yeah, and that's such a cool neighborhood too.
Speaker 1:Like uh I, it was neat for me learning the history. Built up right after the war. It was the first post-World War II community and it just feels like such a neat small town driving and walking through there.
Speaker 2:And the Mineral Springs that Matt wrote that wonderful article about. I won't go into the detail, but it's really worth checking out. What is it Matt's Old Mok worth checking out and what is it Matt's Old Mokina?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is that his website?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we did a podcast episode about it too, about it too, so that house is two doors down from me which is just so neat.
Speaker 2:It's a great story worth checking out. It really is, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, talking about the chamber and more so the organization overall, tell us a little bit about what do Chamber organizations do in the communities and what do they do for businesses.
Speaker 2:So Chambers are non-profit organizations. That's always the first thing that I start out with, because I think that really lays down the foundation of something that is very important, and that is that we rely on all of the membership dues from the businesses and the sponsorships from community events that we host and then if you have, you know, ticketed events or things like that. So all of the money, every single dollar, has to be raised yourself. A lot of people think that we're like a branch of the village and that we get tax dollars and all these wonderful things. And no, we don't. We don't get anything handed to us. We are a 501c6. It's a six because that's membership organizations and unfortunately during COVID, 501c6s were not given the PPP loans, only 501c3s. So here we have members that are struggling to pay.
Speaker 2:We're, honestly, we're trying to figure out ways to still provide value because we're not having our monthly membership meetings, which are wonderful ways for people to network and get together and introduce themselves to their fellow businesses. And then we always have a guest speaker that educates either on something business related or something on the community. We've brought out the Park District, we brought out Lincoln Way Special Recreation Association. We brought up the library, because I think it's important for these business owners to know more about their local taxing bodies, especially. Not all the business owners live in Mokena, so how would they be exposed to these things? But they obviously have a vested interest in Mokina because their business is in here.
Speaker 2:So at these membership meetings I think that's something that provides a lot of value, and we didn't have those happening during COVID. So we were trying to pivot and find other ways to make money. And then to not get the PPP loans was a difficult thing. By the second round they finally opened it up for us, but you had to apply for the first one before you could get the second one. So you apply for the first one then, but then by the time you could apply for the second one, because there was a certain amount of time that had to go by then it was over, so we were able to get one. At least we had one. It was over, so we were able to get one. At least we had one.
Speaker 1:You know at that point something was better than nothing after we had struggled.
Speaker 2:So long to get through that and did those end up being forgivable loans, yeah they did, they did, and then I had also reached out to Will County.
Speaker 1:I don't want to go on a tangent about COVID, but it was a very. It was hugely significant for the chamber as well as the whole community and our business community.
Speaker 2:And I'm glad by that point I had years of experience under my belt running the chamber. I would have been lost because you had to completely pivot. I mean everything that you thought you knew. You know, after you do it a few years, it's like, okay, copy and paste, you know we're going to change this a little bit and maybe modify that, but you've got a good playbook that you're working off of. By year three, four, five, basically take that playbook, throw it out the window and start over and figure out what does a chamber look like now?
Speaker 2:So everything got turned upside down and all these organizations were reaching out saying we're, you know, we're here to help businesses with this, with this, can you get the word out? Well, of course, that's how I was showing my value, even though we can't have in person networking events and this thing and that thing. And you know, of course, illinois was very restricted with their in-person stuff for a long time, even when other states were coming back. We were still, you know, in the phase one and because we were broken up by regions and all of those things. So Will County reached out and said can you, you know, blast this out? And I said, of course we can. But I need to tell you this was months in. I'm like I always use the analogy of when you're in the airplane. You know how they say put your oxygen mask on first, even though you want to put your child's on, but you have to save yourself first so you can save the child. I'm like we need an oxygen mask because we have been helping everybody for so long and I don't know how we're going to keep our doors open.
Speaker 2:And I mean it wasn't just unique to the Molkina chamber, it was, I mean, really everybody. None of these chambers were getting any help. So they were like we didn't realize this was happening and so they in their credit, you know we we had a separate meeting and I kind of went more into detail about things with them and I said, you know, and like we all need help. I didn't want to just like let's bail out Mokena and, you know, everybody else. Oh well, so they ended up helping all the I think it was all the Will County Chambers, you know with. It was a grant and so it was forgivable. I mean it wasn't a ton of money but it was a little, every little bit at that point helped. So we were able to get some assistance too, because other businesses were too, so we were able to tag on to what they were giving. Other businesses is what I should say. This wasn't something really special, just for us. We were able to be included on what they were giving out.
Speaker 1:And again talking a little bit about COVID with the Lions Club. You know experienced similar struggles and having to relook. But talk a little bit about the, because you did see a lot of those organizations come together and what was kind of the chamber's role in that and you guys kind of almost organized a lot of these charities, help bring them together, um, so just briefly talk about that and kind of what some of the things you saw yeah, I saw us as like the, the, the one stop resource, because there were so many things out there.
Speaker 2:How would a business owner be able to run their business? If you're a parent you were e-learning at home, as I was with my then kindergartner how would you be able to be out there and even knowing where to look for this information? So we were trying to be like the you need information, like here is everything that we have, and we were sending out these huge emails with all these links and because we're a chamber, it's not even like if we were like a restaurant organization, I would only have to give out information about restaurants. Well, we were, we're in everything. So I had to have information on every different type of business a small business, a medium-sized business. I even tried to help the large businesses, because who knows if they know about this information.
Speaker 2:So we had a page on our website, we tried to do that and then we still did, very luckily, two months before COVID hit, one of my members said hey, I tried out this new thing. It's called Zoom and he's sort of explaining it to me and I'm not quite getting it. He said I'd love to teach you how to do it. Maybe one day you'll need it. And I thought, well, you know, he's excited about this, he's a member and I'm always up for learning something new. I'm like, all right, I'll jump on. So a couple of days later, we jump on this Zoom thing and he's showing me how to do it and I thought, well, that's pretty neat. I'm like, maybe one day, if we have a meeting and we need people to come from far away rather than having them commute, maybe then we'll use it. Didn't really think much of it. And then fast forward two months and Zoom was all we did. So then we moved our monthly membership meetings to Zoom. So we were still able to do them, and we would do them in the evening.
Speaker 2:Um, so that you know you could like do it like while having dinner everything was so laid back that remember, which was so different. We were not used to like working from home or like even like dressing casual, so to have these like kind of like evening dinner party was just so neat.
Speaker 2:It was kind of exciting to try these different things, like evening dinner party zooms, was just so neat. It was kind of exciting to try these different things, because if it didn't work, what do you do? Well, you know COVID, you just blamed it on COVID. You were able to really experiment with different things. And then I felt so bad that there were things because I had a kindergartner and I'm seeing there's no pictures with Santa this year, there's no photos with the Easter Bunny this year, there's no trunk or treats this year, there's no acons this year. All these things that I knew personally my own child was missing out on and I'm thinking well, all these kids are missing out on this. So then we try to figure out ways that we can still have something fun where we weren't violating the restrictions put on by the state. So that's when we pivoted and this is why I say thank goodness I had years of experience on me because I was kind of able to come up with these things.
Speaker 2:We did a Halloween scavenger hunt and we did an Easter scavenger hunt where we just had like 20 businesses participate. As many could participate as they wanted, it was about 20. And they would give me I think it was 20 bucks to participate and I just use that to buy prizes for the kids so they could go into the business. See, it helped the business too. We would hide, like for Halloween. It was like an inflatable pumpkin. We hid that somewhere in the store and I would tell them if it was a retail store, hide it where you want people to go. So, like Ace, they hid it by their Christmas decorations, like where do you want to guide people to? So then kids would be able to fill out the card and they were still able to do something fun. You still felt like you were participating in something neat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those were great. They were great and the creativity that came out throughout COVID was really really cool to see that was the silver lining really. And there's some things that you know we still keep around today. So we talked earlier this summer getting to talk a little bit about the election and you had mentioned you weren't necessarily sure that you would run again this election, so maybe just start talk. What made you decide that after four years you want to run again for Village?
Speaker 2:Trustee. Well, I did some soul searching. I had both sides asking me to run with them and, not wanting to really be caught in the middle, I just thought, well, maybe I should just not run. But then I did some soul searching on that and I thought, well, that's not really fair to me, because there is a learning curve being a trustee, and I felt like I'm, I'm in. It was about three and a half years, I guess.
Speaker 2:At that point I was in and I felt, you know, I've got my feet under me now, like I really want to keep moving this forward. You know, when you're a I equate it to high school years because it's four years and you're a freshman and sophomore trustee you know you still have so much to learn. You can't always be, you know, the first one trying to suggest something, or you're just you're trying to really see what's happened before you, what's going on right now. I mean it really is a lot to take in. So then by your junior and senior year of being a trustee, you know, you feel like you know what you're doing and I just thought that would be a shame for these years of knowledge and experience to just throw that out the window now and not, you know, keep going so and plus once you have like you know, like we're in the middle of a lot of things and you just, you want to see them through.
Speaker 2:So I just decided, nope, you know what, I'm going to stick. I'm going to have to just pick a side. I'm going to have to stick through this because it's what I, it's what I want to do and I think it's. I think I'm good for the village I do. If I didn't think I was good for this role, I would say, you know what? There is somebody out there better than me that can take this over. I will just stick with my chambering, but I do think I'm good at it and I can still learn more. I still have three and a half years. You never stop learning.
Speaker 1:So, based on this flyer you got here, you did choose a side.
Speaker 2:So do you want to?
Speaker 1:talk about why you chose to run with George. Now we're getting to the hard-hitting questions.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, friends of Mokina is who I ran with last time. Friends of Mokina, we ran together with George's trustee and we ran with Melissa Martini as clerk, and this is the group that we like to get things done, and get them done quickly, not recklessly quickly, but quickly where we see progress happening at a good pace. So I just decided to really, I mean, I stayed where I was, I stayed with Friends of Mokena.
Speaker 1:So what have you learned over the last four years as a trustee?
Speaker 2:You learn that there is so much that goes into everything, like the littlest thing, like you, really the amount of things which it's not always a bad thing. I mean there are some things that are there's a lot of red tape and those are things that we want to look at and address, but I just mean the things how much goes into making sure that you're you have all the facts, that you're making a solid decision. Um, you know you're not going up there and just winging it and or you know saying, let's throw this against the wall and see what sticks. I mean you have to do so much research and it's so many different things because you know I was more comfortable working with the business side of things, but now you have to get very familiar with the residential side of things and like new housing development, townhouse developments, and there's just so much to learn.
Speaker 2:Like I said, and that's why I don't think you want a ton of turnover, because you want people up there that do have years of experience. You want a good blend of turnover and experience, because you want people up there that can think back on things and say well, you know we tried that before and that didn't work because X Y Z or you know we tried this before and that didn't work. Because X Y Z, or you know we tried this before and it did work. So maybe we should consider utilizing that for this. But then you do want the new crop of people too that are bringing a new, fresh perspective. So it's just how much goes into everything, like, obviously I knew a lot did, but it's even more than you realize. Things are well thought out, I will say, and I don't know if this is just this town or if this is just every town, but things are very well thought out before they're done.
Speaker 1:Explain that a little more.
Speaker 2:Well, like. So, like when you see an agenda, for instance, like you might watch a board meeting and say there's A, b, c, d, e and F on this consent agenda and you see in the meeting you know we just take roll and we all vote for it. Or even under, like new business, you might see there's a brief PowerPoint and we all vote yes on it. That has already been through at least one workshop, sometimes multiple workshops, sometimes it's it has gone over the course of maybe a year or two or three. Um, where you're, you're working out all the details on, on all of these things of you know what size the housing development is, do you want R1, R2, r3, or? Um, you know what size the housing development is, do you want R1, r2, r3? Or you know, is that the right fit for that business in that spot? So you work through all of those things in workshop, and workshops are open to the public.
Speaker 2:Anyone can go to a workshop. They're on Mondays or on the third Monday of the month, but so we work out those details there so that when we're in the board meeting, yeah, we already know, we know what we're doing, not that you can't always change your mind at the last minute. I mean, no one's locked in until it's till your name is called and then you vote. But all these things are already thought out and planned out and done. So that's why the board meeting might look like oh, they're just like they blew through all these in you know 15 minutes. Yeah, that was after a lot of meetings to get to that point. This is this is like you know the, like your final paper that you turn in. That's what the agenda is.
Speaker 1:And I've seen you know your interactions on the board and you have on things agreed with. You know different sides. You know the mayor on some things and with, say, george or whoever on other things. What's, what's your decision-making process? That goes into how you make your vote, especially in those more contentious situations.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you've noticed that I do vote on my own. I wouldn't say a lot, but frequently enough. I remember, kind of right at the beginning of my first year there, I was the only one that was a no vote on something. You know, we run together to kind of go back to the group because you want to run with people that sort of have the same vision. Otherwise, you would have six people up there arguing with each other through an entire meeting and you're getting nothing done because everybody is so on different pages. So that's why we like to run as a group, because we're all individuals, but for the most part, we all have the same vision. So we're all, like you know, rowing the boat in the same direction so that you can get to where you're going quicker, right?
Speaker 2:So there are times, though, that you know you do your own research and I, before I vote on something I always remember like I am not trustees are not elected to be Melissa Fedora Like you're elected because you're supposed to be the voice of the people. So I always think, okay, if I like had the luxury of time to knock on every single door in this community and ask people how do you feel about this Like what, what is the majority going to say? So I always try to take myself out of it. You have to use your own decision-making skills and pull your own knowledge to work out the problem. But at the end of the day, this isn't Melissaville.
Speaker 2:I have to represent everybody and so I really try to lead with that. Sometimes you have to take yourself out of it and say what is best for everybody, because not everybody is, you know, 42 year old Melissa, who lives on Mokina street with a 10 year old son, that I have to represent everyone. So, um, I, I, you know, I'm not afraid to vote my own way, even if it goes against other people. It doesn't, it doesn't intimidate me. I, at the end of the night, at the end of the day, when I go to sleep at night, I have to feel confident in what I did and I, I do.
Speaker 1:And are there people that you've looked to for advice or counsel on decisions related to the village?
Speaker 2:Well, definitely, and you should. So we get our agenda. You know, the week before the meeting, like Thursday, we get it. So you have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then most of Monday to get out there and ask questions. So I mean, it depends on, like, each particular thing. But maybe you need to talk to a business owner, Maybe you need to talk to a developer. We, we talk a lot.
Speaker 2:We have good communication with our staff because you know, they sort of they're sort of in the day-to-day with these projects, right, Like we're not day-to-day, we don't work full-time, you know, at City Hall, right so, but they do, they're day-to-day in the village. So we pull a lot from like okay, when, like previous maybe discussions that they've had with whatever that project is. It's just like you just have to keep drilling down. So it's almost like every different thing on the workshop is like a different mystery to solve, because you're trying to get, you know the whole and we're briefed very well by staff, very well by staff, and they're super accessible, which makes this so easy that you know that you can get a clear answer out of staff. That is just wonderful and that makes the job so much easier that you're not having to argue or fight or get down to the bottom of this. So a lot of research goes into all of these things.
Speaker 2:And then, once you get to the workshop, you know and there's been times that I've gone into the workshop and I thought that I already had my mind made up based on all this research that I've done leading up to it but maybe there's that one resident that was there, and sometimes it's more than one resident, Sometimes it's a lot of residents, and that's when you really have to listen to the other side. Or maybe another trustee asked a question and you thought, wow, you know, I didn't look at it that way and then. So then you go okay, we're going to have to like rethink about this and re-explore. I never, typically, when you're at a board meeting, like I said, you kind of have your mind made up because we've already gone through this whole process. This is just that we're now here to like formally vote and sign off on it, Right.
Speaker 2:But I've gone frequently to a workshop thinking I thought I knew. But then once you see, I mean that's why we're there, so is to get the whole full presentation Right and to hear directly from the business owner or whatever it is the developer. And there's frequently been times I thought, wow, you know, walking into this room I thought I was going to go this way, but now I think I'm going that way and then, luckily, you still have a little more time to look at it because you don't have to vote until. That's why, you know, I said, sometimes at the board meeting you do change your mind, but it's just like research, research, research, research and even like my journalism. It's like you kind of do the who, what, where, when, why. Make sure that you have all of that in your head before you make a decision.
Speaker 1:This past week. You talked about the work sessions of the board and that occurred this week and I went and they had the presentation on the update of the comprehensive plan which surprisingly got a lot of at least views interest between Facebook and YouTube and that.
Speaker 1:So it just what do you think? Do you think there's a way that the? Well, maybe one. Do you think those are meetings that should be made public? Well, maybe one. Do you think those are meetings that should be made public, maybe recorded in addition to the regular meetings, or maybe not? And do you think, how do you think the village, you know, could increase how we communicate, how they communicate with the community?
Speaker 2:Well, so that's two questions, so remind me about the second one, okay, so, cause I have thoughts on that. So the first question though um, should they record it? That was our first um like big presentation of, of the findings of it? Um, I don't know that I would even say big presentation, but I believe, as this is kind of brought more together, um, I believe that would be more during board meetings.
Speaker 1:And I think I mean more, not necessarily this meeting, but the idea of should those work sessions? I mean, you said how important those are and that's where the real work gets done, so why not? Why shouldn't those be, you mean?
Speaker 2:work sessions in general.
Speaker 1:In general yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, Work sessions in general, Well, you know, honestly, you're not able to speak as freely. I feel like when all this is out there, ready to be picked apart, A work session kind of has to be a safe space I guess is what I'm trying to say and they're open to the public. I mean, if you really want to come out, that bad, come out to it Like. I know I'm going to catch heat for this, I just know it. But you know it's so easy to just like, oh, let me sit at home and armchair quarterback something. I feel like you need to come out and be part of this. So, to record all these workshops. I don't feel like people, I feel like everybody's going to be. I feel like it's bad for everybody. People aren't going to really be able to speak as freely when you know I'm going to be clickbait tomorrow or whatever. Okay, and I mean, there's nothing bad that happens at them. Come out and see them.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, there's nothing bad that happens at them. Come out and come out and see them. But you know you can kind of get in the weeds in them sometimes because you're trying to get down to the bottom of something. And you know, maybe sometimes something does get a little bit heated and I just, I don't know that you want that like splashed all over. You know the internet, once it's on the internet, you know it's the world. I don't, it just doesn't seem like the right fit for something. I could be wrong.
Speaker 1:This is just me speaking, oh there was a second part of that question. Oh right, how do you think the village could better communicate?
Speaker 2:Oh, better communicate, Right? Okay, well, I've been saying, for you know, for since I've been on here, it may be even before, just because you know, chamber Melissa, you know, for since I've been on here, it may be even before, just because you know, chamber Melissa I see a different perspective of things. We need a, like a marketing person, at least a part-time, possibly a full-time somebody that is a it's village staff that you know their whole role is promoting the village. We were very fortunate to have the village. We were very fortunate to have at the time our assistant village administrator, kirk Zollner. He was with us for many, many, many years. He's since retired. He was so good with the written word. I always told him you need to write a book. So he did all of like the village emails and the newsletters. And now since he's retired, you know it's kind of just it's gone here and there amongst staff.
Speaker 2:But I think we need one person who solely just promotes Mokina I mean like what I do at the chamber, but somebody that just does that, that just doubles down and gets the written word out there and the message. And I think someone too you know people don't realize that, especially if you don't get a print water bill anymore. A lot of people just do online. Well, so you're not getting that newsletter in the mail, but you can still receive it. Like there's a way online you can like opt in to get newsletters emailed to you. Make sure that you're on that. Make sure that you're on that, make sure that you're getting all these communications. They usually come out around 4.30,. I want to say it's got the agendas for the board meetings and for the plan commission meetings and the economic development committee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can sign up for any or all of them if you want, right.
Speaker 2:Right, and then the text messages you can sign up for that. That's Everbridgebridge, I believe, is the name of that so you can get um text message updates and they don't like flood your phone with a bunch of nonsense. It's more like an important thing. Like you know, this road is shut down because there was an accident or a water main break, or or sometimes it's like a reminder like this starts leaf and branch pickup this week, so you have to. The residents need to know that that's out there so that they sign up, but you don't know what you don't know, and so I just feel like it would be kind of a better way to communicate. We do now in the last few years. Now we have Instagram for the village and Facebook for the police department, which was a humongous step in the right direction.
Speaker 1:And a YouTube channel now, right, yes.
Speaker 2:Humongous step in the right direction. But you know you need somebody to man all of that and you know it needs to all be like one cohesive piece and I think that person could like do like marketing and special events. I'd love to see the village do more special events. That's what the community wants, you know. I switched back to the chamber, tried to do that but again, like we talked about small budgets, you know I'm a staff of one and my assistant is like one day a week, so I don't have the manpower to do all that, I don't have the budget to do all that. If we had somebody on a village level role that could do like marketing at special events, I think that would be a big benefit to everybody and would really get the word out there, because Molkina is a great place and we need somebody telling people that.
Speaker 1:How do you think that the village can be more friendly to new businesses coming into town?
Speaker 2:Less red tape is. I've heard this for 15 years now I've been at the chamber. I've always heard about the struggle that it is to like get up and running and going. So I think a lot of things can be streamlined, especially if you're doing a build out. Especially if you're doing a build out, streamline things easier. And you know being you can't just promote the new businesses, you have to remember all of them. You can't forget about the ones that have been here you know 10, 15, 20 years. It's like you can't just be focused on just like the bright, flashy new things. It's got to be 100% across the board, everybody. And you know that even includes your retail, your downtown businesses. But then you know we've got like the light industrial park, like it's got to be everybody across the board, because it takes everybody to make this whole thing run. That's how you keep your taxes down. They have four cents on the dollar.
Speaker 1:You knew I had to throw that in there. Absolutely, your chamber office is right on Front Street. The food trucks on Front this year have shown that people want an active, viable downtown. What do you think are things you can do individually as a trustee, and as a whole, as a village, to attract more business?
Speaker 2:trustee and as a whole, as a village, to attract more business. Have a really great reputation, first of all for how easy and wonderful it is to open a business in Bokina.
Speaker 2:Yes, you know, word of mouth is still it's the most old school, but it's still the most effective Word of mouth, a good reputation. It's still the most effective Word of mouth, a good reputation. And I really want to encourage residents to drive down Front Street and take a look around, because I hear it so many times. People say oh Zap Taco, when did that get here? It's been here for years now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, been here for years now, or even like the new clothing boutique or Hustle and Heart or the resale store or like the salons that we have there. I hear so many times people say, oh, I never knew that was there. And I think, well, when was the last time you drove down Front Street? Like, make sure that you come and check it out, because there are always things being added on. I think Resale for Rescues has been there about eight years now. The theater's been there nine years. Zapp's been there about four years, maybe five. Hustle and Heart is new. They're maybe not even one year yet.
Speaker 1:And that's exciting because you know Hustle and Heart being retail, because I've heard so many people say, oh, you can't bring retail, nobody's going to come down. And God, the number of women and young girls I've heard so many people say, oh, you can't bring retail, nobody's going to come down. And God, the number of women and young girls I've seen coming out with their new hats. Yes, I think again. It just shows like there is a desire for more in downtown.
Speaker 2:There absolutely is, and let's not forget about. As I said, we can't forget about our older businesses. Let's not forget about how long Etc Cafe has been there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely forget about our older businesses.
Speaker 2:Let's not forget about how long Etcetera Cafe has been there. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:A mainstay? Yeah, so they're. And Little Al's, you know they're the best burger, they say, and I think you've been to Aurelio's a few times.
Speaker 2:I know it falls within that area there.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yes, that's part of the it's part of the downtown too.
Speaker 2:So I just encourage people, you know, come out, because there might be more there than you realize and there's new things that pop up. You know there's Lashology, the eyelash place right across from Hustle and Heart. Then you could go to Etcetera have some brunch.
Speaker 1:I mean, there is still ways that it's not where it needs to be, 100% it's not, but there are still some fun things that you can do down there, and the more things like the more people do that, the more likely it is for businesses to realize the value there too.
Speaker 2:Correct. We don't want these businesses to leave, so do come out and support them.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that came up at your last candidate meet and greet that you all hosted somebody who was very passionate about the idea of cannabis in town and recreational legal marijuana and that, and so I got the chance to talk to a couple of the trustee candidates and, as you know, the village, when it became legalized, voted to not allow it in the town and the medical facility moved to New Lenox. Now and you know New Lenox, mattson, madison, orland Hills, joliet, a lot of the surrounding areas have adopted it and seen it implemented different ways. Do you think the village should reconsider that or look at how we address that?
Speaker 2:I can't remember if that was a workshop vote or if it was a board meeting. Vote about that now because this is going back.
Speaker 2:I remember the newspaper article more than it, but but OK, so we Mokina this was before I was on the board. I remember being the chamber and seeing this and I was shocked that Mokina was allowing years back the medical marijuana place. It was called Greenhouse at the time and then they changed the name to Cure Relief, okay, so they were operating in like a light industrial area. I really was like, wow, good on this board for allowing that and I thought, let me. I'm curious to see how this is going to play out because I wasn't in it, I was able to just kind of sit back and watch and I thought I wonder how the residents are going to take this.
Speaker 2:And actually there really wasn't I don't remember there really being much pushback on it or controversy about it. So they were back there operating for a handful of years and then that's when the Illinois law changed and then it was legal. I was like very new at this point, but this is how I remember it. Um, they wanted to stay in Mokina. I don't know if they wanted to expand, I think they wanted to expand. They needed a bigger facility, I believe. But they wanted to stay in Mokina and I think it was in a workshop.
Speaker 2:Um, the board kind of came to a consensus these aren't, like you know, like official votes, like in a board meeting but they came to a consensus that they didn't want to allow it. I was one of the people that was fine with it, actually, because they'd already been here operating all those years. We'd had no problems with them and I, I think some of the thought was are are we going to be like inated with people wanting to come? But every town sort of has their own. So I don't think that was really a big issue. I was fine with it. But then of course I mean the writing was on the wall they were going to leave town. Why would they stay and just be medical when?
Speaker 2:you can be everything.
Speaker 1:So they left, which they've now moved to New Lenox, to New Lenox, and New Lenox, I feel like, took an interesting approach of you know, they didn't tuck it back into an industrial park. They put it right on 38, right by Walmart, which I think provides an additional level of security there as well as but.
Speaker 2:And they may have wanted to move in Mokena to a different area. Now that you say that that actually is ringing a bell, I have notes on. These are my scribble notes on all my agendas on all my workshops. I mean I have, I keep notes on everything, so I would have to go back and pull that one, but I do believe that they did want like a more visible spot in Mokina. I mean, that was one of those where I was one of the.
Speaker 1:You know I vote how I vote and I was a yes, so do you think, and I don't know where they all boarded. But is it something that it should be reconsidered or thought about again?
Speaker 2:Sure, I think it could always come back. Things can always be brought back up. I mean, nothing is chiseled in a stone, you know. I think it could always be brought back up.
Speaker 1:What do you think that our village does really well?
Speaker 2:Not spending money like we're printing it in the basement, that's true, which? Sometimes I could almost say that's something that the village does bad, but no, obviously to be able to build the.
Speaker 2:you know, that's one of those things that it's not like a fun, exciting thing that people are like, yeah, we got a new sewer plant like take that other town, but it's so important to have, but they're very expensive. But that was all paid for in cash. And then, of course, the police department mainly cash, small loan, but we're earning interest on that and of course it's beautiful and that's something that we will not have to address for decades. So you're welcome future.
Speaker 1:Mocanians.
Speaker 2:You got that police station there and you are set for such a long, long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one of the things that came up when I was touring the police station was the idea that the next project is probably a village hall.
Speaker 2:Probably a village hall. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know what? What do you think the village should do? You know, if you were, you know, running the whole thing and you were getting a wave, you're one. What does the police station look like? Where would you want to see it to wave your wand?
Speaker 2:What does a police station look like? Where?
Speaker 1:would you want to see it?
Speaker 2:The Village Hall. Yeah, sorry, village Hall. Well, I am actually on the Village Hall committee and we just, you know, you've got to scout out the properties. There's not a ton of property, you know big, big properties, not a ton of big pieces of land left in Mokina and obviously it has to stay in Mokina. So I really I can't say a lot about it, to be honest, because you know, you don't. There's some pieces of property that we're interested in.
Speaker 1:Okay, of course I don't want you to give anything away.
Speaker 2:Then they'll get more expensive.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:You see what I'm saying. Well, with the police station.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because we held that property for was it 12?
Speaker 2:years. I believe that was bought under Mayor Joe.
Speaker 1:Warner, I want to say so you know, in that case, I mean, I think the idea then was it would have been sooner but you'd hope that we're not in that kind of long stretched out situation again.
Speaker 2:I don't think we're buying land today and building 20 years from now.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't think it'd go that way at all.
Speaker 2:Because we have outgrown the current village hall.
Speaker 1:So for people that don't spend time there, don't know why have we outgrown or what explain that like what's it look?
Speaker 2:yeah so of course it was originally. I wish matt was here right now it was originally a schoolhouse built in 1920 something I need a phone to friend somewhere around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, after the original school bill, right and yeah, and then you know there's like the gymnasium in the basement. So it's just been repurposed and repurposed and repurposed, much like the former police station had been repurposed, because it was the fire department then it was police station. So you know, it's just, it's used up, its its term, its its length, its life span. You know, I'm sure it's not how you would lay out a village hall now if you were laying one out. You know, remember it was built before computers and things, so it's no longer working at its best capacity.
Speaker 1:What do we need? It's older. What do you think we still need that we're lacking in the facility.
Speaker 2:For the facility. Well, definitely like a better meeting space, a bigger, better meeting space that boardroom gets crowded it does it does and you know the village hall moved in there when the population was a lot smaller than it is today, so that village hall was probably huge and beautiful back then.
Speaker 2:um, or the board, the boardroom, I mean. So yeah, we definitely need a bigger space to to fit these. You know, 20,000 residents that that we have here now. So, yeah, better board space, better working space for staff. You know they're very like disjointed right now because you're just you're like retrofitting you know an old space, basements, not usable for offices. You can put storage down there. That's about it. And people they don't even know where it is because it's right in the middle of this neighborhood. So people kind of find that odd, but it is nice to have them in the downtown at the same time. So there is that.
Speaker 1:You mentioned the old police station building on Front Street. Any ideas or thoughts of what could be done with that?
Speaker 2:So for now, because the village owns it, for now they have ESDA using it, because ESDA had been sharing some space with the street department and then they weren't able to put all of their vehicles inside. Of course you want them inside for weather, so then you get a longer life out of them. So they were able to ASDA was able to move their thing and they're a very important group too. I mean they can't be overlooked. They deserve nice facility and space. So they've been able to move out, utilize that space at the police department. Now the street department has their big barn space back, so now they can put their vehicles in there.
Speaker 2:And, like we said about the village, about running out of space for staff, I mean they've converted every possible thing that they can into offices and now they were able to move some village people that don't have to really interact with the public as much. They were able to move them over there Because, of course, the people where you need to meet with people and developers and stuff, you want them at the village hall, but they were able to move another department over there that they're fine over there. So we're just utilizing that space for now. Hopefully once things get popping on Front Street. You know, we can always repurpose that space, do something different with it, whatever that will look like down the road, but for now, we are outgrowing our space, so why not use a space that's sitting right there in the meantime? So there, you know, we have some people moved over there for now. For now.
Speaker 1:And what do you think are the biggest challenges that the village will face over the next five to 10 years?
Speaker 2:Um, probably well, getting front street going, Um, but I don't think that's it's a doable challenge. This isn't a. You know, how are we going to do this? How will we ever be able to do this? Um, we're.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of it, too, depends. You're riding the wave of like more like national things, like, um, housing and like economy. So you don't always know what's coming at you, because it's not. You know it's the trickle down effect. It's, you know, is. Is there going to be a? Is the housing bubble going to burst? Is, is there going to be a recession, depression, and so you have to react to all of those things.
Speaker 2:But Mokina, in itself, I mean, I think we're a very well-oiled machine that's moving along here. So there's nothing that I look at down the road and say, oh my gosh, this is going to hit us hard. Look at down the road and say, oh my gosh, this is, this is going to hit us hard. I think if we just keep on going, if we keep on getting that sales tax coming in, um, our homes, you know, are beautiful and people wish there was more homes on the market, especially more townhomes. Those go in a second. I mean, they're building them and they're selling them like immediately, because, uh, you know, a lot of people want to downsize but still stay in Molkina, and that's wonderful. That's wonderful that people want to stay here, and that's wonderful that new families want to come here. So I don't think there's some major crisis that's coming our way. I mean, we survived a tornado down Front Street. Certainly did, yeah, All right.
Speaker 1:Well, I have a couple, couple kind of lighter questions. Uh, get to get to know your questions. So, first, if you were talking to a new resident or coming into town, what advice would you offer them to help get them involved in the community?
Speaker 2:oh, I like that. Well, mr israel, I would say we are so blessed to have a wonderful and I'm not just saying this because you're sitting here. I swear I have said this to people before and that's why I was able to come up with the answer so quick off the top of my head Join the Lions Club if you like to do service. We have such a strong, robust Lions Club organization and I don't know if this is just unique to Mokina or if they're all this wonderful, but the Lions are at everything You're. What's your role this year?
Speaker 1:I'm president Right.
Speaker 2:I was getting you and Don confused. I thought you were president. You guys are at everything and you guys do so much, so there's that. There's the Community Affairs Commission at the Village. That's kind of a fun one that you can do. They do like Clean day and the beautification awards Um the chamber's always looking for volunteers.
Speaker 2:The shameless plug for myself. The park district always looks for volunteers for their events. Um, there's so many different ways um that. I've the. I'm sure there's ways to volunteer at the library. Yeah, you could be um a friends's friends the library. They do their um book sales there.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, they're, they're book sales right as long as that not sound right there, Um, and they always need volunteers for that. There's so many different ways that you can get involved in this community. There really is. I mean we should, we should make a list and put it on the website.
Speaker 1:All right, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You can help Matt research stuff.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:What is your favorite breakfast restaurant? There is no way you are making the chamber of commerce executive director pick their favorite.
Speaker 1:This is thank God. I only have one child.
Speaker 2:Because this would be like saying who's your favorite child? Go on and and tell me, it's not the weird young one, right?
Speaker 1:you like the older one? No way can I answer that, all right, I'm gonna have to cut a couple, a couple, off my uh-oh.
Speaker 2:No, go ahead and ask me and I'll make fun of you do you have any collections?
Speaker 1:do you collect anything?
Speaker 2:oh huh, these are the questions that always stump me. These questions that should be the easiest things about your own self are the ones that stump me the hardest. I do not that I really collect them, but I do have some cool stamps. I have the Mr Rogers stamps, I think I have the Muppet stamps. There's a Betty White stamp coming out soon, yeah, so I have a couple of those, but I guess and I don't know if this is a question you're going to ask later because this is sort of like what I'm known for.
Speaker 2:I have a huge collection of Cincinnati Bengals gear.
Speaker 1:Oh jeez, I wasn't even going to bring up the Bengals, but I did See.
Speaker 2:Slid that right in there.
Speaker 1:Very funny. Okay, how about maybe a favorite or exciting new Mokina business?
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's the one that everybody keeps asking me about everywhere. I go, and I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say. The dock, absolutely yeah, because it is right here on Front Street and because that building has been needing some tlc for so long. I'm lucky I was able to be in that place, though, so the last place it was paulie's, it's what I know it, as is a newer mokinian so you got to go.
Speaker 1:It was open and I was able to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a chamber luncheon there like my first year, so I was able to be inside of that and and I consider myself pretty lucky that I was never before.
Speaker 1:Yeah oh, it was interesting what do you think that's going to do for downtown?
Speaker 2:well, I think everybody's hoping that that this is the thing that really kicks it off, is the catalyst for things, um, but you know, I think we also need to be very strategic about the things that are on the market now, things that will be on the market in the future. It's not a ton of space on French Street. So what you do have, you need to use to the absolute best of your ability, and I think we have to be very strategic about what we do. What we do have. You don't want to see things turning into things that you don't want them to be.
Speaker 1:Let's get out of the lighter questions briefly.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right I knew I was stepping right into this one which is fine which is fine I want to talk about it.
Speaker 1:Well, the, so the, the terafin lot is a potential development now and going back and forth, but that's something that will also be amazing.
Speaker 2:That's a nice big piece, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the village purchased that lot years back. Years back, yeah, in order to kind of control it and be able to have a hand in what was being developed.
Speaker 2:Right, and we, which is something I personally like to see a little bit more of.
Speaker 1:And we have two vacant lots that have been sitting empty on Front Street for quite a while now. So how do you feel should the village be doing more of that, or how do you feel the village should approach those lots?
Speaker 2:I feel, yes, which was why I said earlier you know, a great thing about the village is that we don't spend a lot of money. And then I said but sometimes that's the bad thing too. I think we should be strategically buying those pieces of land. Obviously, you have to be, you can't be paying outrageous costs for these things, and, you know, I would certainly hope that people developers, people don't hear this and say, oh well, I can put whatever price tag I want on this and that village is just going to buy it because they want it so bad.
Speaker 2:Because, no, this isn't, we're not doing anything unfiscally responsible here, but we do want a downtown and I think we do need to be more strategic about purchasing these properties so that we can control them, because that is a fantastic example of how it can go right when you do that. To even go a little bit deeper, I would love to how we're doing the comprehensive plan. So we hired, you know, an outside company that specializes in doing these things and they come in and they're helping us through this process of a comprehensive plan. I would love to do something like that, where we hire somebody that helps us develop our downtown, because none of us are. None of us do this for a living.
Speaker 1:And do you think that would be more specific than the comprehensive plan overall?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we have to wait and see what comes back from this comprehensive plan. Maybe we will have the answers that we need in that and maybe we just need to do a little tiny bit more of digging in that. I'm not really sure what's going to come back because this comprehensive plan is on the whole entire village, not the downtown, but of course, as we know with through the resident input, that that's one of the big hot things. I mean no surprise, right, that that's what people want. Everybody that lives in this town knows that that's the hot thing that everybody wants. So we do have to kind of wait and see how that comes back.
Speaker 2:But if we need to dive in deeper, you know, I say if I was to remodel my house, I would hire somebody, because if you're spending that amount of money, I would. I'm not an interior designer, I wouldn't know. Oh, I want to knock down this wall and put this here. I would need somebody to come and help me make those decisions so that I don't do it and then go. You know I don't like it. I messed up, I spent all that money and now like I hate the way my kitchen looks. So I think you do need to get some help and I know that that's another cost. But if you're going to do it, do it right, Because we're talking developing a whole area. This isn't something that you can just like erase and start over area. This isn't something that you can just like erase and start over. And people want it and they want it done right. So let's do it right. Let's bring in some experts. I'm not an expert on building a downtown. I went to school for journalism and I didn't take that meteorology course.
Speaker 1:Maybe that would help. Maybe that would help. What's your favorite Mokina community event?
Speaker 2:Softball for you or the July parade, but also my other little event that doesn't get as much love and attention and it's something that came out of COVID, my Christmas tree walk and pictures with Santa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that came out of.
Speaker 2:COVID, because you know no events, you couldn't do the gathering and all that stuff. No pictures with Santa that came out of COVID because you know no events, you couldn't do the gathering and all that stuff. No pictures with Santa. And again I was like how are these kids going to get their pictures with Santa? Like this generation is just going to have like no pictures of Santa from like this year to this year.
Speaker 2:It just it bothered me. So at the chamber office we're lucky to have that big front window. So we decorated the window beautiful, my assistant Marietta, and we put Santa inside and then you could stand outside. So I mean he's in the building, you're outside of the building and you can take your picture, you know, in front of him and that's Don, one of the Lions. Club members was our Santa, Don't you're not.
Speaker 1:Santa, it's Santa.
Speaker 2:And then we had, we had at the time- we had 12, now we're up to like 25 Christmas trees on the corner of Front and Wolf, around the Front Street. Frosty and the businesses can decorate the tree in their theme and then that's some publicity for them. We put a sign with their name, I put it on social media. But this one night we have the pictures with Santa. We put a bin underneath every single tree and the residents are welcome to come out.
Speaker 2:Underneath every single tree and the residents are welcome to come out and you can vote for your favorite tree by bringing either non-perishable food items those are donated to the frankfort township food pantry or unwrapped toys those were donated at the time to toys, tow trucks for tots. Now we are donating those to the um children's department at Silver Cross Hospital, okay. Or pet food supplies, old blankets, old towels, anything, and that all goes to NAWS, of course, here in Mokina. And so every item underneath the tree counts as a vote. So you could bring a whole big Santa bag of stuff and put it under one tree or spread it all around, and then that gets counted by myself and my volunteers. And then we declare first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place winners. We're up two now and they get a trophy, and all that is donated to those organizations right around Christmas, which, of course, is a wonderful time to donate when people need it.
Speaker 1:Well, the Lions have been doing a tree on that corner for years before the chamber. We just have not caught up to the decorating.
Speaker 2:Very big improvement this year. Yeah, yeah, very big improvement.
Speaker 1:We're going to work on a good theme next year and we're going to be in that top five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did kind of take your area and I do apologize for that.
Speaker 1:It's awesome to see and we always say that now it's so cool and we started it you did, you did, but it's great. It's a great addition, and the glasses you guys always give out are so fun the glasses where you look at the Christmas lights and you see a snowman or a.
Speaker 2:Santa yes.
Speaker 2:Very fun, and another part of that, too, was coming out of COVID and trying to figure out how businesses find a way to promote themselves and, of course, have pictures with Santa for the kids. It's the first Saturday in December every year, from 5 to 7 pm, but also at the time this goes back to 2020 then we and thank goodness, the problem is no longer a problem. At the time, there wasn't as much decoration on Front Street for the holidays and I thought, well, maybe we can try to solve the problem. By you know, the chamber could try to solve the problem. I was, I a trustee then, no, so I we filled up that whole area there with Christmas trees and it looked beautiful on the corner. Now it just it's all big, one beautiful, cohesive piece and it's just, it's just amazing.
Speaker 1:It's so festive on Front Street now. It's awesome, and they're adding more every year.
Speaker 2:Yes, Kudos to the Public Works Department and I'm so glad that we've been able to all vote as a group to up the budget a bit for that.
Speaker 1:And the lights are still, are those staying up all year round?
Speaker 2:now. Okay, so I'm going to pat myself a little bit on the back here.
Speaker 1:All right, go ahead.
Speaker 2:So I was at my office two years ago was the first time they put them up and I watched the public works, I mean they decorate all that. I watched them run that line back and forth because they put up like a metal line first and I remember we were like what are?
Speaker 1:you doing.
Speaker 2:Like oh, we're going to hang these lights.
Speaker 2:And my assistant was there that day. She goes is this going to work? They're like, we hope so. So they run this line back and forth and then they run the Christmas lights over on back and forth and it just looks so beautiful and I thought, gosh, every year now they're going to have to take this down and put this up. It just seemed like so much effort.
Speaker 2:So I thought, well, why don't we just make them where they can change colors and then just leave them up, and it'll look so cool, like for the food trucks. So I suggested that and everybody was like, yeah, let's do it. So they ordered different lights, because that year they were like the Christmas lights, where every light was like a different color. So they I think I believe I'm just guessing, but I believe those are the lights now that they put along the fence by the metro, just because it looks like them to me, but I couldn't be wrong and now they have lights that are color changing. So they're red right now for valentine's day and I'm sure they'll be green very soon here in the next few days.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that was you know if, if that's my legacy, you know we overlook a lot of those small things.
Speaker 1:You're right, but it really is. What kind of creates the charm and creates?
Speaker 2:connectivity. I got the zigzag lights and I got garbage cans on the north side of Front Street.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, Well, and as you said, there's so much I'm sure that is involved in the village, that is not the flashy stuff and that goes unnoticed.
Speaker 2:Right. You know, yeah, I was noticing garbage on the north side of Front Street and I'm like we need some garbage cans on this side. So you know we got two garbage cans.
Speaker 1:So, before we wrap up, why don't you tell me a little bit about the fest that the Chamber is doing on Front Street?
Speaker 2:Oh, I am so excited about this. So it's going to be called Front Street Fest and it will be held May 16, 17, and 18. The chamber is running this one, okay, so this is my chamber hat I'm wearing, but of course, with the assistance of the village, you know, public Works Police Department. So it's going to look similar to the firecracker dance. If you've ever been, have you ever been to the lions Firecracker dance? You know, I have once or twice, and also we're actually the.
Speaker 1:The lions are moving our event down to Yonker Farm this year, which we're excited about, but kind of left a hole on front street right.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly. So, of course, your event is in the middle of July, um, and as event is in the middle of July, and as the chamber, we've kind of been looking for like a big event so that it will help our budget, as we talked about earlier nonprofit, all those things. So we've been looking for a big event that we can do and we've been wanting to do something on Front Street, but not, you know, like what can we do? That's different than the firecracker dance, because why would you have two events similar within just a couple months of each other? But now, with you guys expanding out into Yonker Farm and spreading out over there, I thought, well, now why don't we do our event here? So the footprint's going to look very similar. We'll have the big white tent in the Metro lot right across from the chamber office. We'll be able to use our own office.
Speaker 2:Now we had been sharing the chamber office with the Lions Club for their event that weekend, so that they had kind of a home base and a place to count the tickets and do all their things. So they kind of took over our office that weekend. So we'll be using our own office now for that event. So we're going to have live bands Friday, saturday and Sunday. We're looking at two bands Friday, three bands Saturday and one band on Sunday. Wow, it's going to be 21 and over. Except for Saturday day, we're going to have a fun event. We were honestly we were trying to find like a Taylor Swift experience type person, um, but they're all booked up, so we, of course they are yeah Right.
Speaker 2:Um. So we were able to um, secure, um, another band. It's a female fronted band, it's beyond the blonde, beyond the blonde, and they performed at jmo's live and things around here before. Um, but that one, uh. So they do like all of the girl stuff taylor, swift, uh, gwen, stefani, pink, katie, perry, um, so that'll be fun for, like moms and daughters, of course, anybody.
Speaker 2:But we just kind of we're going to have sort of a girl vibe that day and we're going to get some businesses involved with maybe like some hair tinseling and fun things like that. But then everything else will be 21 and over. We've got a nineties band. Friday night we have an opener and then a nineties band. And then Saturday night we have lib Funk Circus. They perform often for the Halloween party at CD&Me and they perform around here Bourbon Street. And then Sunday we have a country band and we're going to do like a big food truck thing we're thinking on Sunday, so people can kind of come out and have lunch and listen to the band. So we're really excited about that.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, fingers crossed the dock is planning on being open by then. So that'll be a good, cool way to experience them. And they've got that patio on the front big patio on the back. Actually, a Four Seasons room they're putting in the back that will be able to be utilized year-round for banquets, just to give them a little plug. So we're really looking forward to this event. It's going to be a lot of work. Anybody wants to help and volunteer. We are going to need as much help as possible, but that should be something really neat. Front Street Fest.
Speaker 2:Yeah we're going to start announcing that and launching all that soon.
Speaker 1:Oh good, Well, we'll be sure to be there and share some of that as well.
Speaker 2:And thanks for sharing your space with us then.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So just take a minute. And if you want to just tell people why they should vote for you, excellent Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yeah, we really want to get things moving. Our group has a lot of energy, we have people on the board, we have our group. Three of us have been on the board and then three of us would be new to the board. So I think we've got a good mix of experience, new ideas, a lot of energy. We want to get things moving forward. We want to stay fiscally responsible but you got to spend money to make money and we do want to put some money out on some things that we think are needed to improve the village. You know, village hall, french street I don't want to speak for the whole group, but I know those are some things.
Speaker 2:You know, I personally would love to see the marketing person and I know I believe George even spoke on that, because we did pull out of the South End Convention and Visitors Bureau and so now we can, you know, keep those monies inhouse. So we have a lot of ideas and a lot of things that we want to get working on here and we just we want to, just we want to get moving. We want to move things forward. We want to see progress, and quick, but not too quick, not reckless, quick, like I said earlier.
Speaker 1:And how can people learn more about you guys and your slate?
Speaker 2:So we have more meet and greets, although this might be after that. We have more meet and greets, although this might be after that. This might come out after that, but we have meet and greets March 6th at the 19th hole, march 27th this will be out before March 27th. March 27th at the VFW. We have a website that is coming out soon, but we are the Friends of Mokina, so we are the white signs that you see with the big sunburst.
Speaker 1:And quite a few of the mailers.
Speaker 2:Are we're getting those coming through the mail? Yes, oh, there's more coming.
Speaker 1:Well, great, I really appreciate you taking time to sit down and talk with me.
Speaker 2:We appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk with us, so thank you Absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, early voting starts on March 17th, so make sure you vote on April 1st. And again, melissa, thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Israel.
