By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – A second person has announced plans to run for the Bloomington City Council seat held by departing Alderman Diana Hauman.
State Farm attorney Jeff Crabill, 50, is running for the Ward 8 seat, which covers parts of Blomington’s east side.
McLean County Board member Josh Barnett revealed last month that he too is a candidate for the seat to replace Hauman, who’s not running for reelection.
Crabill said his campaign theme is to “Grow Local” instead of trying to lure large businesses here from outside the community.
“You keep things local, your money stays local, purchases stay local, procurement stays local, and that money just continues to get spent in the economy,” said Crabill.
Crabill said the council should place a higher priority on funding the Small Business Development Center at Illinois Wesleyan University, which he said is understaffed, and spend less on funding the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Center, which primarily works to attract large firms here.
Crabill has served on the Bloomington Cultural Commission, and is one of the leaders of the Multicultural Leadership Program. He supports passage of a ‘welcoming’ resolution for undocumented immigrants, but he says it’s probably a dead issue for now.
Crabill’s likes the work being done by Police Chief Clay Wheeler, who’s formulating policies for how the department cooperates with federal immigration agents.
“I recently attended a police review board meeting, and (Wheeler) talked about how he’s putting together a proposal,” said Crabill.
“It sounded to me like he was being very thoughtful and considering everyone involved, and also talking with the Normal Police Chief about the policy he’s created.”
As alderman, Crabill plans to put to work the skills he’s acquired as a trial lawyer.
“I had to persuade a jury to side with my position. I think those skills I can bring to bear to maybe push some things forward that have been stagnating in council, whether it’s the Downtown Task Force or whether it’s the library,” Crabill also said.
For his city council run, Crabill said he’s not seeking Mayor Tari Renner’s endorsement.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
