Sandwich mayoral candidates disagree on renovating building for new police station

As lifelong Sandwich residents, Todd Latham and James McMaster don’t like what they believe has become of their city, so they’ve decided to do something about it by running for mayor in the April 6 election.

Incumbent Mayor Rich Robinson, 621 E. Pleasant Ave., who has made Sandwich his home for 30 years, believes he’s done a good job the past two years as mayor and that he’s already moving the city forward for the next four years.

The 51 year-old Robinson also has seen his schedule open up after retiring in October from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office after 30-plus years in law enforcement.

“There are many challenges facing the city currently,” Robinson said. “One of the biggest challenges would be infrastructure improvements - water, sewer, streets and sidewalks, and the creation of new infrastructure as it relates to storm water.

“I think I am doing a good job and believe that I can continue to promote the city and move the city forward through the next four years.”

Latham, 50, of 115 Boulevard St., is business services coordinator with Geneva School District 304. He said the city’s infrastructure is falling apart, but that’s just part of many of Sandwich’s problems.

“Businesses [are] closing and leaving Sandwich,” Latham said. “The city appears to be spending more than they collect. The city is or will be adding over $20 million of debt, payable by the citizens through property taxes and water/sewer rates increases. The city has been in violation of the Open Meetings Act and is in need of transparency and leadership.”

McMaster, 72, of 203 Castle St., has seen a lot in his 72 years in Sandwich and said the “ghost town” that it has become irritates the heck out of him.

“The downtown Sandwich area is like a ghost town,” he said. “There are a lot of antique stores and a lot of taverns. Yeah, we’ve got a lot of taverns, but nothing else. I also don’t know why they can’t work a deal with people like the Gjoviks (auto dealership owners). You see a city like North Aurora make a deal with Montgomery and they still are making a lot of money. Now Plano is getting all the profit. It just ticks me off.”

As an operating engineer for more than 50 years, McMaster worked on a lot of big infrastructure projects, but he’s furiously scratching his head trying to figure out what’s going on in his hometown.

“I can’t figure it out, but most of the mayors here the last 25 years don’t have the knowledge,” he said. “They’re policemen. It really aggravates me to see this go on. I’ve watched the city buy property and sell property and give away property to clean another property. I just don’t know. Maybe we should think about getting a real estate license with all the buying and selling all the time.”

Latham acknowledged that he has equal concerns with the aging streets, sewers, sidewalks and storm sewers in town. They need attention, but how can the city pay for the new infrastructure?

“I will put our attention and resources toward economic development,” Latham said. “In order to pay for the necessary improvements and lessen the burden on current residents/taxpayers, I plan to attract new residential, commercial and industry to grow the tax base.”

These aren’t overnight fixes, and Robinson emphasized that he is aware of the city’s many challenges, but recognizes that it takes time and money to make progress.

“We try to prioritize the needs by investigating options for handling these needs,” he said. “This includes having studies done for the actual improvements and the impact that it has on down the road. It also includes things like smoke testing and televising of the sanitary and storm sewers, which help determine where there may be breaks and infiltration to the systems. We need to continue these processes while trying to secure funding through [Illinois Environmental Protection Agency] loans or grants for these projects. Our general fund, capital fund and motor fuel tax will not support these projects alone.”

A strong advocate for the renovation of the Designed Stairs building for the police department complex, Robinson said it has taken 10 long, hard years to finally get to where they are now, as the City Council recently approved financing for the renovations with construction possibly beginning in May.

“This is something that has been in the works for approximately 10 years, going back to 2010, when we first purchased property for a police department location,” he said. “During the next 10 years, the city purchased three other properties for possible police department locations.”

The idea to construct a new police department on 26 acres on Center Street across from the Sandwich Fairgrounds proved to be far too costly for the city and the plans were scrapped.

“Ultimately, plans were made to renovate the Designed Stairs building,” Robinson said. “[The] City Council believed the cost was still too high, and the building renovations were paired down to the existing $3.2 million estimate.”

Meanwhile, Latham and McMaster remain opposed to the project as it moves forward.

It was purchased in 2016 and has sat idle ever since,” Latham said. “It took a taxpaying property off the tax rolls, a loss of $31,000 annually to other city tax bodies like the school district. It is an attempt to retrofit a building designed for another purpose. It is not up to code, will likely cost more than planned, is in a part of the city with little to no crime and farther away from schools, thus reducing response time. The council and current mayor have already approved bonds for this project and it is moving forward. I would have considered building a new police department to last 100 years the way the fire department and library built their new buildings.”

McMaster knows Sandwich isn’t like Mayberry, but it’s not Aurora or Chicago, and he wonders why there is such a need for a new police station, as well as its number of police officers.

“Out of the city’s budget, 57% goes to the police department and only 18% goes to the maintenance of streets, sewers and water. Only 18% isn’t going to work,” he said. “And we’ve got 15 police officers. Five in the day, five in the afternoon and five on third shift. Why do we need so many police officers? We don’t have that much crime. I remember when we only had four police officers and one was part time. That’s part of the reason why they need a new police station. That’s all they think about. How about some new streets?”

Before his mayoral appointment in May 2019, Robinson was elected Ward 1 alderman in 2003 and then reelected in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. He’s also been active in the community as a member of the Sandwich Moose, Tri-County Kiwanis, a former board member of the Fox Valley Older Adults and a volunteer park district basketball coach.

Latham served as Ward 2 alderman from 1997 through 2005. His other office appointments include DeKalb County Board of Health, where he was a commissioner from 2008 to 2014 and vice president in 2013; and the Sandwich Park District, where he’s been a commissioner from 2013 to 2021 and was president from 2017 to 2020.

For a number of years, McMaster worked with the village of Oswego’s public works department.

“I have a little experience on what it takes to run a city,” he said. “I worked a lot of big jobs and a lot of long days from four and five in the morning until whenever, you know. My dad taught me about hard work, and when I turned 10 I worked for him on Sundays, and almost every day after school he’d pick us up in his truck and we’d go right to work.”

Now McMaster wants to work for Sandwich, as do Latham and Mayor Robinson, but only one can be elected.