Nelson announces campaign for South Jax trustee

By Ryne Turke on October 19, 2016 at 1:03pm

There’s a new candidate on the ballot in the South Jacksonville trustee race.

Like many South Jacksonville residents, Greg Nelson started paying closer attention to the actions taking place at Village Hall following the 2014 Illinois State Police Report, which involved three elected officials who all stepped down from their positions.

“That really resonated with me, as a person who moved to the community a few years before to raise my son. That is why I have strong convictions about the prosperity and future of our village. This is where I want him to grow up, make friends and go to school a couple blocks down at South Elementary.”

Nelson, the Director of Technology at Waverly School District, has played a part in the progress made in South Jacksonville over the past year.

Nelson was approached by Village Clerk Dani Glascock to help with the South Jacksonville website and several IT projects, a task Nelson accepted at no charge to the village.

Nelson feels anyone who has voiced concerns with how the village is run, should also be willing to put their skills to use for the betterment of South Jacksonville.

If elected trustee, Nelson would work to improve governmental transparency in the village.

“Having the village ordinances available so you can walk into Village Hall and look in a book. You can then see the rules by which we are governed, which isn’t really possible now. I would like to see us look to the future for things that aren’t necessarily governmental. Public recreational areas like Dewey Park could use a refresher. It is also about the community we live in and making it a nice place.”

Nelson is also pushing for recall measures to be enacted for all elected officials, putting term limits in place for village officials and establishing long and short term strategic plans to keep the village fiscally strong.

This wouldn’t be Nelson’s first job interacting with municipalities.

“It was about seven and a half years at a park district in the Chicago area that had a board of commissioners and the same FOIA rules. As the IT guy, I was apart of the process of FOIA discovery, so I’m familiar with those rules and the way public entities work with funding. I think that experience would translate to working with the board.”

For a closer look at Nelson’s ideals, go to his Facebook page at Greg Nelson for Village Trustee.