Mayors are like fish; they’re only good for two terms. – Mark Twain (kind of)
For any man, woman, or child to serve 44 years as mayor of the same city is patently obscene. Just like Twain’s fish, they generally lose their effectiveness after two terms – three at the most. But that stark reality isn’t stopping the second worst mayor in the Fox Valley, Jeff Schielke, from trying to make it 48 years.
Since when was Batavia municipal government intended to be a jobs program for the Schielke family?
It would be one thing if he was reasonably competent, but as has always been the case under his absurd tenure, Batavia continues to be the ugly stepsister to St. Charles and Geneva. And the older he gets the less effective he becomes.
But as bad as he is, he pales in comparison to Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns. Schielke believes he’s doing what’s best for his City, but the ultra-narcissistic Burns is under no such compunction. He believes Geneva IS his city. And he and his City Manager lackey, Stephanie Dawkins, are at it again.
Emboldened by the dominant political partisanship distraction, Burns and Dawkins are moving surreptitiously swiftly on two fronts. The first is a potential $97 million bond issue referendum to build a new police station on South Street and upgrade city hall and some Public Works buildings.
While there’s nothing wrong with a requisite bond issue, it’s the sneaky way the dynamic duo going about the prospect that’s the issue.
The truth is, as expensive as they are ($47 million), Geneva desperately needs a new police station. How do I know this? In an effort to mitigate my bias against our mayor, I spoke with a former GDP insider who described the situation thusly:
The renovations most people see from the parking lot were built in 2006, which was the last time the building was upgraded. The rest of the facility has been around since the station had a horse stable. Try finding an open electrical outlet in the records section because you can’t. In fact, the electric is so bad that the station can’t handle new technology. Then, when it rains, there’s either a waterfall in booking or a flood in the older section or both. The building has long since outlived its usefulness.
Unlike the Mayor and City Manager, my source was so effective in her detailed description that, in just a scant five minutes, she changed my position from, “We don’t need a fucking new police station, to, “Holy fuck! We need a new police station.”
I wish I could name this source (it will never happen) because the City desperately needs to hire this person to do what they clearly cannot.
Instead, rather than make the minimal effort to mount a similarly simple and persuasive argument, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are resorting to their typical scheming and chicanery, instead. To wit, I’ve already received three phone calls about a “push poll” that hit Geneva landlines over the weekend. “What’s a ‘push poll,’” you ask?
A push poll is a well-worn political strategy by which the “pollster” does their damnedest to turn pure propaganda into an innocent survey. There might be a wee bit of hyperbole involved in this example, but here ya go; “If you knew that heinous, mattress tag cutting, Major League Baseball account without express written consent spreading, neighbor hating, loudmouth, pain-in-the-ass Jeff Ward was running for alderman, would you vote for him?”
Of course not! You’d push 2 for “no” because who’d want that jackass to be their alderman? And that’s exactly what the city did with the “questions” on this stilted phone canvas.
“But Jeff! Why don’t Burns and Dawkins simply take their case to the public like your superb source did?”
What fun would that be?
The Bobbsey Twins firmly believe the City of Geneva is their private playground and we, the rabble, are an annoying impediment to be avoided at all costs. At least one of the poll questions involved home rule, which belied their true underlying intent. They’d rather forgo asking the peasantry for permission to issue those bonds when home rule would provide them with the power to proceed regardless.
You see, our not-so-dynamic duo have determined that if they can tie home rule to the new police station, the voters just might grant them the power they so desperately crave.
Make no mistake. The home rule question is all the rage between the Mayor, the City Manager, and their progressive female city council minions. They know the only way Geneva will ever acquire those powers is if they can con the electorate into voting for it. That means if they get the slightest positive “survey” inkling, they’ll drop everything and shoot for the moon.
And if the voters are silly enough to vote against their own best interest – AGAIN – the first thing that progressive city council posse would do is ban pampers, lawn mowing, paper towels, Happy Meals, Barbie, fossil fuels, issue an Israeli embargo, add 34 more official personal pronouns, and force all males to undergo transgender surgery.
Well, maybe not. But they would have the power to raise taxes WITHOUT seeking the citizenry’s assent, and Aldercreatures Bowring, Paschke, and Mayer are chomping at the bit to do just that. If you think your taxes are high now, just wait until they get their wish.
We all know some suburban mayors and city managers are better than others and time does take its toll, but almost without exception, they put their cities and constituents first. Not Burns and Dawkins! Everything’s all about them and what they want. They’d rather risk the loss of a new police station on the slim prospect that they can get the power to do exactly what they want when they want to do it.
Don’t let them get away with it Geneva!
Author’s note:
Both Mayor Burns and Mayor Schielke have more than reasonable opponents this round. I’d encourage you look up Karsten Pawlik in Geneva and Tom Connelly in Batavia. I’ll certainly be talking with them before the 2025 consolidated election season is over.
