© 2024 WGLT
A public service of Illinois State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

In south Bloomington, 4 candidates are running for 2 seats on the McLean County Board

From left, Democrat Brandy Elmore, Republican Susan Schafer, and Democrat Natalie Roseman-Mendoza are running for McLean County Board in District 9, which includes south Bloomington. The fourth candidate in the race, Annette Fellows, declined to make herself available for an interview.
From left, Democrat Brandy Elmore, Republican Susan Schafer, and Democrat Natalie Roseman-Mendoza are running for McLean County Board in District 9, which includes south Bloomington. The fourth candidate in the race, Annette Fellows, declined to make herself available for an interview.

The candidates running to represent south Bloomington on the McLean County Board say they’re pleased with recent mental and behavioral health initiatives and look to build on those successes if they’re elected.

There are four candidates – two Republicans, two Democrats – running for two seats in District 9, which snakes along either side of Veterans Parkway from Interstate 55 up to Oakland Avenue.

The only incumbent in the race is Republican Susan Schafer, who’s served on the county board for 12 years. She’s one of the chief architects of the county’s recent mental and behavioral health initiatives, including the opening of a walk-in crisis triage facility and the launch of the Frequent User Systems Engagement, or FUSE, program. The county recently approved an updated version of its Mental Health Action Plan, with 54 recommendations over three years.

“It will never be done. It’s one of those kinds of systems that’ll always be evolving and changing,” said Schafer.

Schafer is part of the first cohort of the National Association of Counties’ Familiar Faces Leadership Network, part an effort to encourage communities to share data between health and justice systems and coordinate care options for individuals with complex health and behavioral health conditions.

“We need to maintain some proven leaders on the board that have the vision and the desire and the passion to continue moving things forward, especially in the mental health arena,” Schafer said.

Brandy Elmore, one the Democrats in the race, also ranks mental health on the top of her priority list. Elmore is a social worker. She said she’s proud of the progress already made on mental health issues here, including adoption of the Mental Health Action Plan.

“That’s something a lot of counties don’t have,” she said.

Elmore said she wants to add to those successes if elected.

“There’s still a lot of hesitancy to work between agencies,” said Elmore, who has not held elected office before. “So each agency is doing a lot individually, but there’s not a whole lot of collaboration in between interagency supports. That’s one of the things we could benefit from, because we have the services – it’s just accessibility to those services.”

The other Democrat in the race is Natalie Roseman-Mendoza, an artist and paraprofessional who works with high school students with moderate or severe disabilities.

Roseman-Mendoza said she’s running “to be a voice for a lot of very relatable people, especially in caregiving.” She says she was troubled by her experiences when her mother had a bad recovery from a surgery and needed to go into a nursing home. She saw healthcare staff stretched to the limit.

McLean County Nursing Home

Roseman-Mendoza said it’s important to protect the county-owned McLean County Nursing Home. It’s historically been a money-loser for the county, although its financial health has improved the past few years. Its new director said he's confident the long-term care facility can make money by expanding its short-term rehab services, growing the census count for its new hospice wing, and by collecting reimbursements from public and private insurers more promptly.

“We need that kind of growth in the nursing home, and the accessibility. I’d want to protect that. We need to keep moving forward on that,” Roseman-Mendoza said.

Schafer, the Republican, said she wants to get a point where the nursing home breaks even, or even makes a little bit of money.

“We’ve actually seen our use of reserves going down, because we’re working quite hard on not using agency (contract) employees, because they’re much more expensive than our own employees,” said Schafer, who chairs the county board’s health committee.

Elmore said transparency and accountability are key to the nursing home.

“And not looking at it from a business perspective, per se, but more from a humanistic perspective,” Elmore said. “I know the nursing home is not necessarily a profitable endeavor for the county, but it’s a necessary endeavor for the county.”

Extension funding

There is some contrast among District 9 candidates on a budget dispute involving Extension, which provides agriculture, health and consumer education and programs like 4-H.

The county is considering a significant cut to Extension’s tax levy, after several county board members insisted the Extension spend more of its reserves first. During a recent meeting, several Extension administrators and volunteers urged the county board not to go through with the cut, while two former Extension leaders accused the current Extension administration of mismanagement and running off volunteers.

Schafer, whose kids were in 4-H, is among those who think a tax levy reduction is justified considering the “excessive” reserve she said is being carried by Extension.

“But we’re also looking at reducing the health department levy, because they have a lot of reserves. It’s not just the Extension service we’re looking at. These are taxpayer dollars, and we have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and getting them the services they need. It’s not helping anyone when it’s sitting in a bank,” Schafer said.

Roseman-Mendoza, the Democrat, said she was a 4-H kid and so were her kids. She likes that there are new programs exposing even “city kids” to things like science, gardening, and fashion.

“I don’t think it was an intentional holding of the reserves. I think COVID really did a number on it. They dropped the fair. Student dropoff was significant,” Roseman-Mendoza said. “They need that in order to rebuild after COVID. I don’t think they were wrong in it at all.”

Extension funding became a partisan issue. The McLean County Democrats launched a website called Fund4H.com, accusing Republicans of “manipulating this situation for their own political purposes.” The McLean County GOP said Democrats were “misconstruing” the situation and that Extension has “enough money right now and if they need more in the future, we’ll give it to them.”

That friction has happened more as the GOP’s majority control of the county board has shrunk in recent years. It’s now split 10-10, with this election putting all 20 seats up for grabs.

Elmore, the Democrat, said she’ll apply the ethical standards from her day job to building constructive relationships with Republicans on the county board.

“My training in social work has given me a strong foundation in being able to put personal biases aside in order to work for a common cause,” Elmore said. “I know, especially in this county, we are so polarized. That’ll be a very difficult issue to address. But I see the solutions to that being relationship-building, which I’ve been working on and will continue to work on.”

On the question of partisanship, Schafer said she’ll put the county first.

“Personally, I just look at what the issue is, and then look at all the facts behind the issue, and vote accordingly,” she said.

The fourth candidate in the race, Annette Fellows, declined to make herself available for an interview. Here’s what she said in her Vote411 candidate questionnaire, as compiled by the League of Women Voters of McLean County:

“I am a Republican because that is where my values align best. However, if I am elected I feel strongly that my job is to represent my constituents regardless of which party affiliation they stand with and vote for the best decision that is in my county’s best interest,” Fellows wrote.

Early voting is already underway. Election Day is Nov. 8.

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.
Related Content