Meet the Candidates
There are two candidates running for the Peoria County Board for District 13. To introduce both candidates, we asked them each the same five questions, however due to space constraints we reduced their questions to four. With these questions answered, you can decide which candidate represents your interests the most. (Editor’s Note: the question we did not include was, “What can Peoria County do to be more business friendly.”)
#1 How do you feel you can be an asset to the Peoria County board?
Terry Ruhland: “After 35 years in business, I’ve gained a knowledge of finances, budgets, and balance sheets. I’ve signed payroll checks every week for 35 years. As a builder, I’ve gathered wide experience with many of the County Board’s current issues regarding health and sanitation, land use, and construction projects, all of which will be front and center to the County’s priorities in the near future. I’ve been involved with Peoria County throughout my career assisting at committee levels for septic system ordinance review, long term land planning, and building codes. As a 42-year resident of Chillicothe, I’ve gotten to know and respect so many of my neighbors here. That will make it easy to communicate their interests to the County Board.”
Mike Antonacci: “I have the ability to study and analyze an issue and to work well with others. Once you can do that then you can help form a consensus and compromise, if necessary, to get things done.”
#2 The November ballot includes a referendum that will give the voters a choice to keep or to eliminate the County Auditor’s office. Do you support keeping the auditor’s office or eliminating it?.....and, why?
Mike Antonacci: “It is refreshing to see a referendum on the ballot that reduces the cost of government rather than the ones that usually increase the cost. I know in training sessions for the board candidates that they went over all of the extensive internal and external auditing reports that the county does. It is very thorough. I have also listened at the county board’s regular meetings to an outside firm, Sikich, praise the auditing reports of our county. They have won awards for several years in the field for their reports. Having a separate auditor’s office does seem like a duplication of services. This may be the time to end it.”
Terry Ruhland: “This is an instance of current technology and systems having outdated the old way of doing things. The County has a separate, expertly staffed finance office currently in place, and a very transparent process for tracking County revenues and expenditures. With this system, it has simply made the Auditor’s Office obsolete. Not to mention the requirement for outside auditors to oversee all of it on a regular basis. The same work is being done in new ways, in other offices and the independent auditors routinely find that financial policies, reporting, and processing are second to none among Illinois counties. The current board has assured the employees in the Auditor’s Office that they will have jobs in other offices within Peoria County. It was comforting to learn that those people will not lose their jobs. I support the elimination of the Auditor’s office.”
#3 Now that the County Board has approved funds to be used for the study of a Peoria-to-Chicago rail link, if you are elected, will you support that effort going forward?
Terry Ruhland: “The County Board and the City of Peoria have each approved a one-time contribution to support the study of a rail link to Chicago. This is a very expensive (over $2 Billion) endeavor that could only be funded by the Federal government so I have my doubts that, regardless of this or previous studies, will ever come to fruition. I do support their decision to support the study, but I would be very hesitant to spend further funds without an understanding of how this might affect other local businesses such as Peoria Charter Coach, that would likely be affected by a rail option. I’d also like the board to understand how it would affect ridership from Bloomington and Princeton which currently serve the local area with rail service to Chicago. This might be very convenient for Peoria but in reality, could also prove to deepen the federal rail subsidy of Amtrak (whether its federal, state or local funds, it’s still your money!) and could hurt other local businesses.”
Mike Antonacci: “I certainly will. It will be a real boon for us to have one of the stops to be in Chillicothe as well. I could see people from the Chicago area eventually coming to Chillicothe for eagle watching, fishing, and hunting along the river. There may be a bed and breakfast development, or a new motel as a result to accommodate them. It would be good for Peoria and Chicago and all five stops along the way.”
#4 What do you think the County can do to help attract and maintain the police?
Mike Antonacci: “The police have the hardest job in the world. The stress and expectations are very onerous on them. Training methods are changing and so are laws. There is a feeling of too many requirements for them with too little respect. Less people are going into this field. We used to have a waiting list to get accepted into the Law Enforcement Department at Western Illinois University. Not as much anymore.”
#1 How do you feel you can be an asset to the Peoria County board?
Terry Ruhland: “After 35 years in business, I’ve gained a knowledge of finances, budgets, and balance sheets. I’ve signed payroll checks every week for 35 years. As a builder, I’ve gathered wide experience with many of the County Board’s current issues regarding health and sanitation, land use, and construction projects, all of which will be front and center to the County’s priorities in the near future. I’ve been involved with Peoria County throughout my career assisting at committee levels for septic system ordinance review, long term land planning, and building codes. As a 42-year resident of Chillicothe, I’ve gotten to know and respect so many of my neighbors here. That will make it easy to communicate their interests to the County Board.”
Mike Antonacci: “I have the ability to study and analyze an issue and to work well with others. Once you can do that then you can help form a consensus and compromise, if necessary, to get things done.”
“When I was a trustee in a small town in Shelby County between Effingham and Lake Shelbyville we were in a dilemma. Our clerk had embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from us, and our water lines were constantly breaking, and our water treatment plant was so old, we couldn’t get parts for it anymore. We weren’t winning any water line grants from the state for new water lines either. I honestly did study why our grant applications had failed. Four years later, after I had become mayor, we had won grants totaling $1.8 million for two new water line grants and one sewer grant. The village didn’t have to pay anything for them either. It took a lot of meetings with engineers, state and federal officials, rural water carriers, the village board and board committees and the public at large, but we got through our financial and water line crises. We also started a new subdivision in our T.I.F. district and finished annexing 7 homes to our village.”
“I will bring that same approach that I have taken before to the Peoria County Board representing district 13 (Mossville, Rome, Chillicothe, and their surrounding rural areas.)”
#2 The November ballot includes a referendum that will give the voters a choice to keep or to eliminate the County Auditor’s office. Do you support keeping the auditor’s office or eliminating it?.....and, why?
Mike Antonacci: “It is refreshing to see a referendum on the ballot that reduces the cost of government rather than the ones that usually increase the cost. I know in training sessions for the board candidates that they went over all of the extensive internal and external auditing reports that the county does. It is very thorough. I have also listened at the county board’s regular meetings to an outside firm, Sikich, praise the auditing reports of our county. They have won awards for several years in the field for their reports. Having a separate auditor’s office does seem like a duplication of services. This may be the time to end it.”
Terry Ruhland: “This is an instance of current technology and systems having outdated the old way of doing things. The County has a separate, expertly staffed finance office currently in place, and a very transparent process for tracking County revenues and expenditures. With this system, it has simply made the Auditor’s Office obsolete. Not to mention the requirement for outside auditors to oversee all of it on a regular basis. The same work is being done in new ways, in other offices and the independent auditors routinely find that financial policies, reporting, and processing are second to none among Illinois counties. The current board has assured the employees in the Auditor’s Office that they will have jobs in other offices within Peoria County. It was comforting to learn that those people will not lose their jobs. I support the elimination of the Auditor’s office.”
#3 Now that the County Board has approved funds to be used for the study of a Peoria-to-Chicago rail link, if you are elected, will you support that effort going forward?
Terry Ruhland: “The County Board and the City of Peoria have each approved a one-time contribution to support the study of a rail link to Chicago. This is a very expensive (over $2 Billion) endeavor that could only be funded by the Federal government so I have my doubts that, regardless of this or previous studies, will ever come to fruition. I do support their decision to support the study, but I would be very hesitant to spend further funds without an understanding of how this might affect other local businesses such as Peoria Charter Coach, that would likely be affected by a rail option. I’d also like the board to understand how it would affect ridership from Bloomington and Princeton which currently serve the local area with rail service to Chicago. This might be very convenient for Peoria but in reality, could also prove to deepen the federal rail subsidy of Amtrak (whether its federal, state or local funds, it’s still your money!) and could hurt other local businesses.”
Mike Antonacci: “I certainly will. It will be a real boon for us to have one of the stops to be in Chillicothe as well. I could see people from the Chicago area eventually coming to Chillicothe for eagle watching, fishing, and hunting along the river. There may be a bed and breakfast development, or a new motel as a result to accommodate them. It would be good for Peoria and Chicago and all five stops along the way.”
“We would, in time, have to change the rails to accommodate electric trains, but a regular route from these two cities would be a business, social, and recreational plus for everyone involved.”
“I would like to applaud the county board’s decision to participate in this study. It is a chance to establish something people have wanted for a long time, and it will certainly be used if it becomes a reality. What we really don’t really know right now are the cost. That always ends up being the deciding factor.”
#4 What do you think the County can do to help attract and maintain the police?
Mike Antonacci: “The police have the hardest job in the world. The stress and expectations are very onerous on them. Training methods are changing and so are laws. There is a feeling of too many requirements for them with too little respect. Less people are going into this field. We used to have a waiting list to get accepted into the Law Enforcement Department at Western Illinois University. Not as much anymore.”
“One way to give more respect and attract more recruits is to put considerable more amounts of money into the budgets of the police force. More money to go to the salaries of individual members of the police force. More money for new police, 10 year veterans, 20 year veterans, more retirement benefits. All up and down the line.”
“If we expect them to take new training methods and have body cams on them we should give them the money and respect that they deserve. This should keep more on the force and attract more new recruits, and maybe a few good ones from other areas. Nobody deserves more respect than the men and women of the county police force.”
Terry Ruhland: “The County Board budgets funding for the Sheriff’s department, but it is dependent on the leadership of the sheriff’s office for ongoing operations, including hiring practices. Sheriff Watkins has spent his entire working career in the military and law enforcement and has a wealth of first-hand knowledge and experience. He has developed a number of strategies for attracting and keeping qualified officers in his ranks. Signing bonuses for new hires, recruitment bonuses for existing officers who bring qualified candidates to Peoria County from other police departments and transfer of seniority from other departments to Peoria County are just some of the ways the County is attracting and keeping quality people in a competitive employment market. Peoria County is among the leaders in the State of Illinois in compensation programs for its law enforcement staff and with Sheriff Watkin’s guidance, will continue that leadership.”
Mike Antonacci
Terry Ruhland