Rock Island Today

Mike Steffen, running for re-election to the Rock Island County Board, did not make politics a priority until he retired as a special education teacher.

“I’ve always been interested in politics but never really had time when I was working in my career and helping my wife raise three children,” Steffen told Rock Island Today. “I planned to do it when I retired from teaching school.”

That critical moment came in 2014, when he won his first term as a member of the Rock Island County Board. Over the last four years, Steffen and his colleagues have racked up a list of accomplishments that resonates with other efforts across the state to streamline government and reduce taxpayer costs.

Mike Steffen

The board was able to reduce expense by at least 10 percent in every department. Cutting the take-home pay of the board chairman from $97,000 to $22,000, the also ended healthcare benefits for the commissioners who work part-time hours; and were able to retain the community’s largest employer (and taxpayer), Exelon, operator of a nuclear power plant.

Steffen and his fellow board members were able to do this while attempting a huge modernization project — digitizing records in the Rock Island County Recorder’s Office, an undertaking that took $1.3 million to accomplish.

The board was able to pay for the project while reducing costs by using money that had accumulated in a fund from the Rock Island County Clerk’s Office, which charged a fee every time someone needed an official document.

“That’s going to be good in the long run,” Steffen said of the digitization project. “Maybe more elected officials should do that.”

One of the toughest challenges for the county is the Hope Creek Nursing Home, which will have a projected $5.3 million debt by year-end, Steffen said. The home has lost money for years but since efforts to have a third party lease and operate it have failed, a new owner should be sought, he said.

“It's a wonderful asset for our community that, for the benefit of its residents, needs to be owned and operated by a professional firm,” Steffen said.

Steffen’s proudest moment was keeping Exelon from relocating and the one he credits with making him, at age 70 and in prime retirement years, seek re-election, he said.

“There’s work left to be done,” Steffen said. “The most important issue facing residents of Rock Island County is keeping current employers while attracting new ones. We need good paying jobs, not just minimum wage. RICO (Rock Island County) must employ our college graduates while attracting others. And we need more vocational training for those RICO employers who can't find skilled labor.”