Transcript:

Hi, I’m Dan Bovy, and I’m running for mayor of West Chicago on April 1st, 2025.

As I’ve been going door-to-door throughout West Chicago, one of the issues that I’ve heard many residents talk about is the water billing problems that we’ve had in West Chicago. About eight years ago, we went through a period where there were two years that no one in West Chicago received a water bill, and then at the end of that two-year period, we all received giant bills that we were expected to pay all at once. That was frustrating for many of us, but for some people, it was more than frustrating.

One family that I have talked with received a bill of $25,000 for that two-year period. Now, this family went to the city and they looked for someone who could help them in Spanish, which was difficult. Then they asked, “What can we do? We got a $25,000 bill. That can’t be right. Our bill is like $100 a month.” Well, they were told very brusquely, “There’s nothing we can do. It’s not our problem. Talk to a plumber. You probably had a leak.” Well, they didn’t have a leak. The city was unwilling to take responsibility in that case, and to this day, the city has a lien on their house so that they cannot sell it. They pay $200 a month to this day, above and beyond their water bill, trying to reduce that debt and remove the lien on their house.

That is the kind of thing that, to me, represents what needs to change in West Chicago. We need transparency, accountability, and responsibility. When we make a mistake, and we all do, we should take ownership for it. We should be honest about it and address it so that it doesn’t happen again. I don’t think that ever happened. We never heard from the city why that happened. There never were any steps taken to ensure that nothing like that would happen again. Now, the city says it was a subcontractor.

I’m a business owner, and if I didn’t bill my clients for two years, it doesn’t matter if I used a subcontractor; I would go out of business. You just can’t operate like that. Well, a city shouldn’t either. The city should not take advantage of their position of authority in this kind of a case. They should be honest and represent the people who have elected them in the ways that they can.

I think there are several ways we could address this kind of an issue. First of all, transparency—making a genuine attempt to be honest about what we do and to let as many people as we can know about what’s happening in the city. That’s my desire: to be truly transparent and honest and bring as many people into the decision-making table as we can.

Secondly, I think that we should install an ombuds person. An ombuds person is an official who has power that is delineated by the city code, which enables them to address issues, to mediate, and to investigate when there are problems. Now, this water bill is a great example. If we had an ombuds person, the ombuds person could have investigated to see what happened and to recommend steps so that that wouldn’t happen again. An ombuds is a way that we, in our democratic system, bring checks and balances on the local level, and that’s why I support the idea of an ombuds person for West Chicago.

This is just one of the areas that we can bring more transparency and accountability to our local government. You have a voice; use it on April 1st. Vote, and I ask that you vote for me, Daniel Bovy, for mayor of West Chicago. Thank you very much.