A former mayor of the Town of Normal has passed away.
Kent Karraker was in his 80s. He grew up in southern Illinois and became an executive at the Illinois Farm Bureau. He was elected to the town council in 1983 and elected mayor 10 years later. Karraker was mayor for a decade, stepping down in 2003 during his third term. Karraker retired to Florida, but visited the Twin Cities often.
"He had some heart issues. But he said to me, you know, I've decided I'd rather be called grandpa than mayor," said current Mayor Chris Koos.
Leadership
As mayor, current city manager Pam Reece said Karraker set a tone that still influences the culture of town government today.
"One of the quotes that has stuck with us and that we use regularly is, 'We plan our work and work our plan.' That is something Kent said many many times," said Reece.
Karraker mentored those around him. He was mayor when former city manager Mark Peterson was hired.
"He just understood the community very well. He had good instincts on when to move a project forward and when not," said Peterson.
Karraker twice asked then-businessman Chris Koos to run for council, and Koos succeeded Karraker as mayor.
"Kent was a very definite mentor to me. I had a lot of respect for the man and his ability to handle tough situations," said Koos.
Every leader has a style. Former council member Sonja Reece said Karraker's was inclusive.
"Kent was congenial. He was welcoming. He was able to invite people to the table and be comfortable with that," she said.
And his personal warmth and politeness shaped most interactions.
"He was full of anecdotes and humor. He had a very quick wit," said Paul Harmon, also a former mayor, adding that was sometimes a mask.
'He also had an inner tension that he covered up with his ebullience. He was very much worried about doing the right thing and worried about decisions that were being made. But he didn't let it show," said Harmon.
Efficiency
Karraker also liked to get down to business and get things done. Peterson said staff used to joke Karraker disliked long meetings.
“He ran a very efficient council meeting. He would say the best meeting is a short meeting and would sometimes get a little frustrated with some of his colleagues when they would get a little too windy," said Peterson.
Reece characterized the desire to cut to the chase as more than simple efficiency — it was a sign of strategic thinking.
"I think he was always focused on what were the most important things that the town should be dealing with and not spend too much time on the trivial," she said.
Collaboration
Karraker's inclusiveness went beyond town boundaries. Peterson said Karraker is responsible for thawing Normal's then-chilly relationship with the City of Bloomington by forming a close tie to then-Bloomington Mayor Judy Markowitz.
"When she got elected, Kent said, 'We are riding together in the Labor Day parade.' He made a big deal saying we're going to be together in the parade because we have to show the community that the two cities are together and the two mayors are together," said Peterson.
Reece said Karraker followed up that symbolic statement with regular meetings with Markowitz.
"They kept the dialogue going between them on the things that they were working on so that there were no particular surprises on either side about the hot issues between them," said Reece.
The face of the town
With 20 years of leadership, Karraker had a big influence on the look of today's town. It started from his conservative roots and a desire to have the town become debt-free. Karraker waved the flag for the pay-as-you-go philosophy that began under Harmon.
"After we issued the bonds for Mitsubishi coming into town and some of the work we had to do there, the town didn't issue any more bonds through the rest of my time and all the way through Kent. Doing that made possible the investment being made in the Uptown area," said Harmon.
And the ability to extinguish debt, said Peterson, is not an easy thing to do.
"We were at least for a good part of his term, debt-free, which for a community like Normal, given the growth we were experiencing, given the very aggressive capital project agenda, that was kind of extraordinary," said Peterson.
Karraker's devotion to debt avoidance was not rigid. Chris Koos said Karraker did not let political philosophy blind him to opportunity when Karraker began strategic planning for what became Uptown renewal.
"Kent kind of bristled initially, but he saw that the town was in a unique position to do this because we were debt-free. He's the one that really started changing the notion of borrowing being a good thing for the community to get projects done," said Koos.
Karraker began other things too that later elected officials would complete.
"Getting the Children's [Discovery] Museum built in Uptown Normal and getting the groundwork laid for the Amtrak Station/City Hall complex and getting the foundation laid for the advances in Normal," said Harmon.
Koos said a little-known part of Karraker's time as mayor involves a quiet push to include sexual orientation in protections from discrimination enumerated in the town's human relations ordinance.
All the sources for this story, though, said Karraker's emphasis on family shaped his public service and the many quality-of-life improvements he backed.
"He had a large family. Growing up, he said they were all pool rats and spent a lot of time at Fairview pool. One of his most prideful projects was the renovation of Fairview pool and we turned it into Fairview Aquatic Center," said Peterson.
At the time he resigned in 2003, Karraker cautioned the community with words that are even more relevant in the world today than they were then — "not to let those who spread fears through lies lead the way the town is governed."
