Rick Jacobsen Announces Candidacy for Highway Commissioner

Photo: Rick Jacobsen has announced his candidacy for Oswego Township Highway Commissioner.

Boulder Hill resident Rick Jacobsen has announced his candidacy for Oswego Township Highway Commissioner. The election will be held in April of 2017.

Jacobsen is an active member of the community, serving as co-chair of the Oswego Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Committee and is involved in the Boulder Hill Neighborhood Watch. He is also a Master Mason at Raven Lodge in Oswego and a Republican Precinct Committeeman for the Kendall County Republican Central Committee.

Jacobsen said one of the platforms he will be running on is accessibility to the people, stating that some have expressed their unhappiness with how things are going.

“I just feel that things should be managed better,” Jacobsen said. “There are some sidewalks I see that are getting repaired that weren’t that bad, but on the other side of town they’re destroyed. I don’t understand why they’re doing that.”

As highway commissioner, Jacobsen would be in charge of 70 miles of road in Oswego Township and 60 miles of sidewalk. With that is making sure streetlights are working properly, sidewalk sewers are functioning and other duties.

“If a tree falls, if there’s a bad storm, the township’s got to be there to clean that up,” Jacobsen said.

It would be Jacobsen’s job to lead the team that gets those jobs done.

Efficiency and improvements are part of what Jacobsen would like to see as highway commissioner and he said his small business, Jacobsen Lawn Service, has provided him with the tools to make that a reality.

“I’m all about having the right equipment for the people to be efficient and (get) done in a reasonable amount of time,” he said. “I have to manage guys and I have to deal with weather. We have 110 lawns that we mow every week and you have to be good with the public. Every taxpayer is a customer.”

Part of Jacobsen’s plan for efficiency as highway commissioner is to make sure people are getting to work on time and they’re leaving the shop on time.

“Seeing what kind of work they have to do, prioritizing their list of jobs and being able to deal with an emergency. That’s part of efficiency,” he said.

Another thing he’d like to see done is have more street lights go up in Boulder Hill, adding that it’s “really dark.”

He also wants to make sure cul de sacs get plowed in a reasonable time and that sidewalks that need to be repaired get repaired first.

“I believe there should be a study done of what roads need to be done first based on the conditions, and the sidewalks,” he said. “I think they use a dartboard to choose which roads need to get done. Some of them are horrible.”

Jacobsen’s announcement comes on the heels of controversy surrounding Gary Grosskopf, the current highway commissioner who has been spending most of his time in Florida. Jacobsen said his announcement was not in response to that, but rather something he’s been working on for a year.

“This is not something that happened overnight,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve been planning to do this for about a year already.”

Grosskopf has said that he has no intentions to run again for highway commissioner.

Jacobsen said he doesn’t agree someone should spend so much time out of state when he should be in town managing.

“I believe it’s a full-time job and you should be in the office everyday,” Jacobsen said. “You need to be there nights and on weekends if there’s an emergency.”

Despite those comments, Jacobsen doesn’t want his campaign to be anti-Grosskopf and he’s waiting to hear what the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department has to say first.

But Jacobsen’s main focus is that the highway commissioner needs to be accessible by the voters.

“You need to be there to manage on a daily basis,” he said. “There’s no way you can do that without physically being there.”