Q&A With St. Charles’ Exiting Mayor

Recently, St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte sat down with St. Charles Patch to review the highs and lows he’s experienced as a city leader.

Today is the final day in officer for DeWitte, who served as St. Charles alderman for 12 years and a mayor for eight. He announced in August he would not seek re-election.

Q: What are your top three greatest/proudest moments as mayor or alderman?

City finances: The three I’m most proud of … is the ability to be a part of maintaining the city’s financial stability through probably half of the last eight years … as the economy struggled and revenues struggled. Early on, we chose to make some hard decisions regarding wage freezes and employee reductions … all through attrition or retirement. Four years into it, we still have balanced budgets, we have not curtailed significant city services and our cash reserves are very healthy.

Red Gate Bridge: The second part of that, I think, is that we’ve been able to continue to move the city forward from a development and from an infrastructure standpoint: Red Gate Bridge, the city’s largest public works initiative, I think in its history; the new fire station — Station 1 across the street (and to the north of City Hall); the radium removal facility … technically an unfunded federal mandate … that, as it turns out, will increase productivity in the water division by 25 percent.

1st Street: Development-wise, the 1st Street Redevelopment, while it has struggled with the economic environment … the first two phases have been successful and well-received … and I envision good things for the rest of the project as the economy starts to revives.

Q: What are your top three lowest moments as mayor or alderman?

Town Center: I was disappointed that Town Center did not move forward in some form (on the old St. Charles Mall site on Route 38, just east of Randall Road). I was in front on that project, I was supportive of a mixed-use development. … Residents of the area took an uncompromising position on regarding residential development, and the result, five years later, is a rotting asphalt parking lot and two shuttered restaurants. We also lost the potential for a Whole Foods Supermarket development on the property across the street. It was an unfortunate turn of events that brought redevelopment in that quadrant of the city to a standstill.

Charlestowne Mall: Charlestowne Mall has been a disappointment. We have struggled again with an absentee ownership entity who I believe bought the property because it was cheap, without having a lot of ideas what to do with it. Contrary to popular belief, we have been to California, we have met with the property owners, and we have shared with them, if they choose to sell … redevelop … take on a new joint venture partner to redevelop the property, the city is prepared to help them with that initiative. And I believe that is the sentiment of the City Council moving forward … to find a way to bring it back to economic health.

Corporate Reserve project: It was an opportunity, I think, for us to take advantage of a changing real estate market that is continuing to shift toward more of a rental-oriented need, as opposed to (being) for sale. If you look at the communities around us, Geneva continues to build rental, North Aurora continues to build rental, Aurora continues to build rental. They recognize the demand for that type of housing in their communities, and I think we have shut out a significant component of our future population by ignoring that reality.

Q: Do you have a farewell message to the city staff and residents?

Our residents have no idea of the level of expertise, professionalism and commitment that out staff possesses in their day-to-day responsibilities serving St. Charles. I’ve had the opportunity to visit and meet a lot of various staffs throughout Kane County in my role with Metro West Council of Government, and I can tell you they can’t hold a candle to our staff and their expertise.

Our staff members are regularly called into other communities to give seminars and talks on various subjects, and even going back into the early ’90s when I was first on the council …. I was always amazed that the things government specialists were giving seminars about back then was stuff we were already doing in St. Charles.

Q: Do you have a farewell message to your supporters?

I wouldn’t be sitting here without them. People have always asked me, “What made you want to be mayor?” I’ve always kind of compared it to the priesthood. I don’t think it’s something you wake up one morning and decide you want to be the mayor of the town you grew up in. I think it’s something you’re called to, recruited for, and you are recruited by the people who think you have the right values to lead your community. It’s those people who convinced me this is something they thought I should do. Twenty years has gone by in a heartbeat — I can’t believe it’s been almost a third of my life at this point, but I wouldn’t change it for a minute. … It’s absolutely been rewarding and fulfilling, despite the tough nights and days.

Q: Do you have a farewell message to your detractors?

To the handful of detractors that I may have, their opinions, be it supportive, nonsupportive or critical, have been and will always be a vital component of the democratic process, of which all of this ultimately breaks down into — it is public hearings, it is public input and debate, and I think anybody in my position has to be able to weigh the difference between emotional, unsupported rhetoric to support either a special interest or a personal agenda … against the reality of a given situation, based on study and analysis, and in the end, find a balance that ultimately will serve the greater good. If those detractions can’t be overcome or mitigated, then whatever is being discussed or debated is probably not in the best interest of the entire community.

(Opponents said) Town Center was going to be the next Cabrini Green — eight-story, mid-rise apartment buildings, basketball hoops with no nets. Those people forget we all are residents here, too. It was empty, fear-mongering rhetoric. … I think that if you were to ask some sitting aldermen today about Town Center, some of them would say, “I wish I had thought twice.”

Opponents to the Lexington Club development said the population would inundate our schools and the traffic would inundate the neighborhood. Again, uninformed, emotional rhetoric that had no reality-based substantiation … Contrary to the opinion that I twisted arms on Lexington Club, I didn’t twist one. When a developer says he’s ready for a vote, and he’ll take it either way, up or down because he’s ready to move on, that tells me he’s done negotiating. And his final reduction in the TIF was enough to convince two aldermen that the project made sense (shifting council support from the project from three votes to five) … I wonder if the indignation would have been so prevalent had the TIF been approved on the vote three weeks prior. … There was no rush to judgment.

Q: Any regrets?

None. I’ve always slept well at night. Issues may have kept me awake, but there’s not an issue I can think of that we didn’t resolve that cost me any sleep.

Q: Thoughts about St. Charles' future?

I think the next council is going to have its hands full. There are some major issues they’re going to have to deal with, and I think they’re going to have to maintain open minds, a compromising state of mind. … Separate the wheat from the chaff.

St. Charles is done developing greenfields … We’re landlocked, everything around us is starting to close in, and the vast majority of development and redevelopment will come on parcels of land already in the community. That creates its own set of challenges, because nine times out of 10, there are already people living around the edges. Lexington Club’s a classic example.

This council is going to have to find ways to expand this community’s tax base. I’ve said that for eight years, and it’s as true today as it was back in 2005.

Related

• Today: St. Charles Mayor Looks Back Over 20 Years on Council
• Today: St. Charles Aldermen Recall Service With Mayor DeWitte

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