Meet the Candidates | City Council Forum

Karl Coleman

Karl is a lifelong Decatur resident and a product of Decatur Public Schools. He is an active and engaged member of the community and wants to be a part of positive changes in Decatur, where he sees many challenges and opportunities.

He wants to use what he's learned from travelling to small and large Illinois Communities to bring a "change of pace" to Decatur and build upon many great strides Decatur has made already, in hopes of attracting families, businesses, and folks looking to start carreers.

Karl is the only young candidate, age 24; all other council candidates are age 60+.

Dennis Cooper

He says our municipal elections have more impact on our daily lives than national elections.

Cooper was born & raised in Decatur, went to college in Mattoon, served in the Department of Corrections for 32 years, starting as a guard and working up to administration.

He retired the first time in 2003, then came back as Chief of Staff for former sheriff Roger Walker, Director of the Department of Corrections. Cooper helped Walker learn the ropes & served for a couple years before he retired for good in 2007.

He's worked with a diverse variety of people, and says he has a vast background equipping him to help the city face its problems.

Lisa Gregory

She's a Decatur native. Her grandparents worked in Decatur, her paternal grandfather worked as a minister at a local church, her other grandfather worked for Wabash Railroad, and her grandmother was a supervisor at GE.

She's the mom of three kids & grandmother of two kids. She went to Richland Community College when her kids were 2, 4, and 6 before transferring to Sangamon State University while working at DMH.

She has worked with state government, in state government, advocated at the federal level, and worked with private organizations.

She's been on City Council for the last 8 years, has supported millions of dollars in infrastructure development and "championed" the fiber optic network "which connects municipal buildings with higher education institutions, saving taxpayer dollars."

She hopes to work on neighborhood revitalization, workforce development, and improving downtown decatur.

Pat McDaniels

He was born in & grew up in Decatur, living in rental housing & apartments in 9 different inner city neighborhoods, by the time he was in junior high. He served in the U.S. Army for 3 years & served in Vietnam, then returned to Decatur.

He started his career as a grocery bagger in high schools, and later became a manager over many of the company's stores in Central Illinois. He was also a reporter for the Decatur Tribune, covering city council & other community events.

He spent the last 8 years of his professional carreer as Director of a local not-for-profit where he promoted our local Lincoln & Decatur heritage.

He says he will continue to support Neighborhood Revitalization because our neighborhoods are the most important building blocks of our community. He has 10 years of former experience on City Council, from 2011 - 2021.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

She says it is her "great fortune" not to have an opponent on the ballot. Mary Williams and Abeer Motan's petitions for a Mayoral run were disqualified after being challenged by Phil Romano, chief operating officer of the Romano (construction) Company. Phil Romano lives near the mayor and his brother Tony has contributed to past Mayoral campaigns of Julie's.

She talks about years-long Neighborhood revitalization efforts starting to pay off, and says the next major focus is the Jasper Street Corridor project. She says we have great job opportunities, with about 2,000 open positions, and the new struggle is to get workers, saying we'll work on it together & solve it.

She says she'll continue to work on infrastructure, improving roads and bridges, in hopes of attracting & keeping companies here. She welcomes people to come to City Council meetings to express their wishes for the community.

Pat McDaniel

• Financing, Maintenance & improvement of infrastructure
• "Fully fund public safety", including police and fire department
• Neighborhood Revitalization

He says infrastructure is important for businesses & that neighborhoods need to be "sparkling" when potential new residents or employers drive through town. He says private organizations and people also need to step forward and help with revitalization.

Lisa Gregory

• Neighborhood Revitalization
• Workforce Development
• More Improvements to Downtown Decatur

Says neighborhood revitalization won't do much if we don't have workforce development. She says when people are making and earning a good wage, they'll put it right back into their home, so we need to help our population get careers they'll enjoy & love.

She says our neighborhoods need to "come together" and tell the city what they want for their community & that she doesn't believe in "top-down government". She references the Jasper Street Corridor project that is using this bottom-up model.

She says we have a beautiful downtown, but that we still have a lot of work to do.

Dennis Cooper

• Safety
• Jobs
• Accountability

Says he's learned a lot since being appointed to City Council in August 2021, and that many of the goals need to continue, like neighborhood revitalization. Says homes need to be rehabbed & tear down homes that aren't fixable.

Says we need to look "out of the box" to figure out what to do with vacant lots, to get people those lands for free & improve them to bring in tax dollars and make the neighborhoods "look well".

Says we need to continue to improve our police departments, and talks about the 100+ Police Cameras in the city, which have helped Decatur PD solve some major crimes. He says nobody will come to the city if it's not safe.

Says we need to continue to support economic development and improvement, get kids (starting with 8th graders) into trades, bring in military recruiting, in part to prevent crimes, by making sure kids aren't idle.

Says we need to develop and build new careers for the people.

Karl Coleman

Coleman didn't clearly list 3 priorities, but focused on these:

• Quell gun violence & increase public safety
• Attack the root causes of crime and poverty by investing in basics: the promotion of fair and equitable public schools, well paying jobs, housing & mental health services
• Expand youth engagement programs
• Raise Community Based Violence prevention funds
• Embrace large scale manufactures and incentivize small business development

He is the son of a former Decatur Police Officer, and his stepfather was murdered in the past two years in this community. He says having dealt with gun violence on both ends will help him with solving it.

He says the Macon County Jail is "the large [sic] mental health provider" in the county, and identifies this as a problem.

He says kids need jobs during the summer and after school programs so they are "not in the streets" & can invest in the community in the long run.

Karl serves on the Decatur Leadership Coalition, organized in the last year, identifying ways they can fund new programs and avenues to quell gun violence.

He says "We can't keep approaching the problem the same way and expecting different results. We have to get innovative". He says we've seen innovative solutions in other parts of the country & have to do it here with a "full faith effort and backing".

Karl is the Secretary of the Southside Improvement Association and has been intimately involved with revitalization projects, including the John's Hill Neighborhood Revitalization, Clean Up Green Up program and knocking doors to see what people want done in their neighborhoods.

He says we want to embrace large scale manufactures, but also want to lift up and incentivize small business owners.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

Wolfe didn't clearly list 3 priorities, but focused on these:

• Infrastructure: Maintain Sewers, Roads, Bridges, and water supply
• Funding Public Safety, police & Fire
• Neighborhood Revitalization & Workforce Development
• Working with the public school district to ensure student success

Says she's tried to build consensus between various groups, like the park district and County Board.

Karl Coleman

He is staying in this community after getting his college degree, and says that we suffer from "brain drain" when young people leave Decatur.

Says we need to invest in struggling neighborhoods & spend time in them.

He says it will help to get more police officers in our communities, making sure officers "[look] like that community", and making sure somebody is spending "time, energy, and effort there," on behalf of the police department, the city, and the neighborhood.

He says residents need to be involved in these projects, and "that's what we've been doing."

He says the solutions are long term and wants to focus on a "hollistic approach," investing in "the material conditions" of the community, before he got cut off by the timekeeper.

He says these are the things he's "incredibly passionate about" and "this is my life," and encourages attendees to talk to him after the forum.

Dennis Cooper

Says we need to get all of the agencies together to collaborate on solving Decatur's issues, to make it attractive to people.

He says he left Decatur several times for his job, but always "came back home" because he believes Decatur is a "great place to be," to live, and to raise a family.

He said we need to improve our School Districts, improve our streets, and ensure that we have good paying jobs for people who come here.

He says we need "everyone working together" to make Decatur beautiful and safe, and says we need to "try to get the tax base down".

Lisa Gregory

Reiterates the mayor's words that work has already been started in the neighborhoods, but that it will take a lot more time. She says we've torn down a lot of houses, and that we know who owns these lots in the communities.

She said they've worked with those owners to ensure the city has ownership of contiguous lots in a block, rather than properties "spread out in a shotgun fashion", which allows them to talk to developers about investing in the community.

Lisa Gregory talks about working with the School District, and about a makerspace that is being developed at the library, as well as a commitment from Richland for workforce training accessible through the library, so people don't have to go out to Richland.

She says they have worked with DPS 61 to put together a training to teach students how to make good choices. She says she really thinks that "we are working together."

Pat McDaniel

He says we need to work with developers to build apartments, citing feedback he got from young professionals at a recent Decatur Chamber of Commerce event.

He says we want to keep our young people, including those raising families, in Decatur, but that's difficult because a lot of young parents don't want to send their kids to Decatur Public Schools. He hopes the new board will help with that.

He says it's hard to get young professionals to move to smaller cities like Decatur, because they want to live in large cities. He cites multiple large companies moving their headquarters up to Chicago and mentions doctors wanting to go to big cities for the money. He says he doesn't know the answer for that.

He mentions about property taxes, saying the city raised their's 2.5%, Richland 8%, and says property taxes are driving a lot of people out of Illinois.

He says finding people who "actually want to work" is also a problem, but he was cut off by the time keeper.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

Says we've been working for about a decade to improve our city & that work is ongoing. She says we need people who want to invest & can invest in our neighborhoods.

She said there's a bit of a disconnect, because there are a lot of jobs and a lot of resources in town, including training dollars & supportive agencies, but we're "not reaching the people we need to reach."

She talks about the importance of investing in our people, so they can buy homes & "own those neighborhoods".

Pat McDaniel

He says it is a problem all over the country, that we have two gangs in Decatur, and that the Decatur Police are doing a good job with their resources. He says as some Decatur gang members are "eliminated", more come from Chicago. He wishes he had the answer, and says education is important & that the city has been very good working with the School District and other agencies in town.

Lisa Gregory

She says Decatur Police do an excellent job and that our crime rate is "much lower" than Springfield or Champaign, before talking about many people & kids needing to learn conflict resolution instead of picking up a gun.

She says it's not one issue, but many elements that need to come together and work together.

She talks about a ride-along she participated in where six police cars came to coral 60 children at the movie theater, and parents were sometimes "worse than the children" when they came to pick up their kids.

She said we have resources in town to teach moms and dads how to be parents.

Dennis Cooper

Says he "might have a different approach" after 32 years in corrections.

He says we need to "be transparent and admit we have a problem" and have serious conversations about our gun problem in Decatur, saying that's where accountability comes in.

Seemingly criticizing the other candidates, Cooper says "Every city has it, but we got it in Decatur and we need to talk about our problems, in Decatur, and how to solve it."

He says we need our community to "see something, say something" and report the things they see - whether gun problems or drug problems. He says it works & that he's seen it work before & that "you can run somebody out of your neighborhood [and] out of Decatur."

He says the State's Attorney needs to give no plea deals for gun crime offenders, hit them with a "hard sentence" and "put them away" as a detterent.

He says we need to come together and talk about what we can do to "change gun laws", mentions it being a divisive political issue, but says we can all agree we need to "open up and talk about it."

Karl Coleman

He says we need a different approach, saying we can't expect different results if we "keep approaching the same issue with the same ideals and the same mindset". He says crime is thoroughly researched, that we understand the root causes of crime, and that it's "not found in every community," saying there's a reason Forsyth is a low-crime area.

He says the municipality "can only do certain things," but they need to "set the tone" to "make the environment conducive for indivudals to want to be productive members of society."

He says most of the individuals getting into crime "feel as though they do not have any form of a pathway forward in our society, and they have not been afforded the opportunities necessary."

He says we do have a lot of resources in our community, but as others mentioned, there is a large disconnect, and there is a reason these services "are not meeting where they need to go."

He gives a theoretical example of a "young man at 14 years old that's dealt with gun violence [and] abject poverty [their] entire life," and feels they've "been left out of [their] society and [their] community." He says, in that framing, "Why would I break my back to go work at McDonald's" when feeling like there is never going to be a true path forward to "self-servancy" and to "being a contributing member of society".

He says we need to look at the "root causes of crime" and not keep looking to "band-aid solutions". He says "a kid having a gun is a problem, but we need to look at why he has a gun at 14 years old in the first place," whether that's his access to it or why he has the drive to want a gun in the first place.

He quotes Reverend Courtney Carson as saying "nothing stops a bullet like a job" and says if someone has a $95,000 job they have to be at every day and a family to support or a brand new home, they'll be much less inclined to participate in crime.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

She talks about a "special task force" of the Decatur Police Department that targets people who are believed to have illegal guns. She says nobody wants to take your legal weapons. She says our Chief of Police Shane Brandel will say "we know who you are" and "we're coming after you."

She talked about state funding that is provided to neighborhoods that are struggling with gun violence, and a $1 million grant from Senator Doris Turner, which will be used to invest in existing local programs and police cameras in the city.

She says we need more involvement from the public & from the churches, saying she met with the ministerial alliance about a week ago & they are very invested in Neighborhood Revitalization and helping our kids succeed.

She says we need to give children an alternative to a life of crime.

Karl Coleman

Karl Coleman says rejecting cannabis dispensaries is a fiscally regressive decision that has lost us out on "millions" in funding and access to much of the "R3 funding" from the state.

He says people are going to use cannabis regardless, so why not get the money for it that is currently going to surrounding communities. Karl also said the Harristown dispensary breaking ground "kind of proves the point".

Dennis Cooper

Dennis Cooper referenced an opportunity to build a casino that Decatur turned down years ago and said that was a terrible decision because we lost out on a lot of revenue, and the city gets "very little funds" from the "hundreds of gaming places", and relates that to cannabis dispensaries.

He's "not totally sold on" a recreational facility but says that council needs to "open up and really look at a medical facility" in Decatur. He says there's no doubt people will visit the Harristown Dispensary, but that Decatur will be "footing the bill" for any issues that come of it, without any of the cannabis tax dollars to assist.

He says we need to look at getting a license for a medical dispensary, and "possibly leaning towards" a full dispensary "if it works out." He says we're doing wrong by not at least pursuing it and talking about it.

Cooper has previously said he would vote yes for a cannabis dispensary "unless I'm shown a better option".

Lisa Gregory

She said her decision was not based upon outside influence, in resopnse to a comment Coleman made that council didn't want to step on Howard Buffet's toes, who invested in Crossing Healthcare, a drug rehabilitation facility.

Councilman Chuck Kuhle is on the record stating that he "can't think of a more flat-out rejection of our former sherrif Howard Buffett" than to allow cannabis dispensaries without a "wait and see" approach, and Kuhle also cited funding from Buffett.

This was covered in some detail by The Intercept, with a particularly critical tone, especially regarding Howard Buffett's influence.

I am not aware of Gregory citing Buffet as a reason for her "no" vote.

Gregory says she worked at the Illinois Department of Revenue when the cannabis legislation was being put together, so she had a "front row seat" to see what kind of taxes were put on cannabis sales.

She says the drafters of the legislation "absolutely knew that the sale of marijuana would cause problems in communities." She says they addressed this by allocating funds for drug rehab and "the list is long."

She says "I am not willing to sell the soul of my community for a few bucks."

Note: The linked Youtube video of Chuck Kuhle's remark was clipped and uploaded by me.

Pat McDaniel

He was chairman for 5 years of the Drug Free Coalition, which he says brought in experts and studied what happened in other states like Colorado and California. He said in Colorado, that "for every dollar of tax money the state brought in, they spent another $10 million dealing with the medical problems, especially with the young people."

I suspect he mis-spoke the figures, but I haven't had a chance to confirm.

He says he reads in the Decatur Tribune every week the number of people pulled over for DUI, which includes for drugs, and that it is "really bad". He suggests, if you want a cheap high, to stand on the boulevard and get high off the fumes from the traffic.

He says bad guys and bad gals move into cities with dispensaries because they can undercut the legal prices.

He says he'll never approve it.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

Referencing Cooper's statement, she said that a Casino vote never came before council and that Decatur wasn't eligible because we don't have a river.

She says the gaming places are part of why she's against it. She approved gaming to help bars & restaurants that were dealing with the recession, but regrets that decision.

She opposes a dispensary because she wants to see how it will play out in other places. She says Peoria is a good example, in that they raise about $600,000 per year. She says black market sales rise when there is a dispensary.

She says if Harristown makes $300,000 per year, it'll go a longer way there and be great for that community.

Pat McDaniel

He says we have a great bus service, recently adding Sunday bus routes. He says he advocated for five years for late night bus service for third shift workers.

He said we have good transportation as far as city services go, but that it can always be improved, and that federal funds help the city expand their transportation services.

Lisa Gregory

She says we have a good transportation service and she is pleased with it, but "we are not done yet and we still have work to do".

Gregory talked about previously extending bus service hours so people can get home from work, modifying routes to get people to richland, and providing free bus rides to high school students as some accomplishments.

Gregory said Decatur has a new director of transportation who is "young and amazing," and that she (the new director) is looking at our routes & doing her very best to improve route services & open up new days of service.

Dennis Cooper

He is advocating for Decatur buses to support seniors, disabled people, and low income people for medical appointments. He says we have a large senior population in Decatur.

Additionally, he says there's no way to get home from the Decatur Airport with public transit and wishes to extend services there to get people home or to hotels from the airport.

He says people won't come to Decatur if they can't get where they need to go and we "don't want to lose our beautiful airport."

Karl Coleman

He says our buses are phenomenal, but that many members of our community think there's room for improvement in other areas. He expresses concern that public transit is often one of the first things on the "chopping block" when population and revenue decline.

He says we don't have enough of a footprint for trains or subways, which are also very costly.

He said others talked about buses, so he'd take a different approach, talking about "active transportation", not based upon a car or a bus.

He says Decatur is a "very car-based city" and that it's hard to "meet your basic needs" if you don't have your own vehicle or regular transportation service, especially if you live in poverty.

He's advocating for bikes and walking, which he says are big things in other communities and needs more time and focus in Decatur. He said the Great Streets, Great Neighborhoods initiative is working on some of this, which would include improving sidewalks.

He suggested making sidewalks larger and safer, expressing concern that many sidewalks are close to busy roads so they don't feel safe, for example if you are walking with a child in a stroller.

He says these small efforts can have a "long lasting effect" and are much more cost effective than trying to build a subway underground, which "hopefully that's eventually where we can be," but "that's not where we're at currently", and we have to look at what is "tangible" at this point in time.

He mentioned the expansion of bike lanes, but said that is "difficult too in certain regards." He said he also supports electric buses.

Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe

She's very excited about our transportation department, and talks about initiatives to add electric buses in the coming years, aided by buying the old "Tommy House Tire Company". She said we should be all-electric by 2035.

They're doing a study in the near future about "micro-transit", which would essentially be a city-sponsored Uber-style system that would transport multiple people headed in the same direction, outside of regular transit hours.

She says we don't have the city size or funds to run regular buses 24/7, so micro-transit is a possible solution.

She says Lacie Elzie, the new Transit Director, is finding state and federal money to support the bus system. She said Decatur didn't charge for bus rides due to COVID funds, and wish it could stay that way because it's a barrier for some people, but that they're trying to keep bus fares low & make it more convenient for people.