Episode 17 • L3 IRL • Nancy

[00:00:23] Welcome back to Left Leaning Ladies. I'm Whitney and I'm joined with a special guest as well as Amy and we'll introduce our guest in just a second. Tonight we're talking to Dr. Nancy Bittner who's running for Macoopin County Board. Nancy has spent more than 30 years as an educator, as principal, as a superintendent and now she is preparing the next generation of school leaders

[00:00:48] at SIU Edwardsville as a professor. She spent those same years giving back to her community through Kiwanis, the Girard Food Pantry, through grant writing, fundraising and countless other local projects. So we're very excited to welcome Nancy to the podcast to ask why she's running, see how it's going, what she thinks Macoopin County needs and what she hopes to accomplish on Macoopin County

[00:01:14] Board. So Dr. Nancy Bittner, welcome to Left Leaning Ladies. We're so glad you're here. Thank you so much for having me. It's a really awesome opportunity to speak with your viewers and with both of you about why I'm here and why I'm doing what I'm doing right now. Amazing. Well, we're going to go ahead and jump in. We have lots of questions for you, of course. We're very excited to speak with you. So Nancy, you've spent your career in education as a

[00:01:42] teacher, principal, superintendent, and now as a professor preparing the next generation of school leaders. What made you look at Macoopin County with a new eye and think, I'm going to run for Macoopin County Board? You know, for me, it was seeing so many of my peers, my friends, their children were moving, they're moving away from Macoopin County in droves. They've been raised

[00:02:09] here. They've gone to school here, but they're not staying here. And we have, you can drive down any street in Girard or Verdon and there are multiple abandoned empty homes. So it's not that we don't have housing available. We don't have jobs available. And we're kind of taxing a small family out of even being able to own a home in Macoopin County. And so I just feel like there

[00:02:38] are things we can be doing not only to attract those young families, but to provide economic development for our communities so that we have well-paying jobs that pay a living wage that allow young families to settle back home where they grew up and raise their families. And so for me,

[00:03:00] that is something that just really is driving my reason for wanting to run for Macoopin County Board. Absolutely. I think everything that you said is what everybody's thinking as we live in this rural community. Another thing that I wanted to touch on right from the beginning, because it really struck me when I saw all of your information, Nancy, is community service seems to be very consistent

[00:03:30] throughout your whole life. You've served with North Mac Kiwanis, have helped raise money for Girard Community Center. You also serve with the Girard Food Pantry. And then most recently, you had that bingo to get money for new police radios. What does serving the community mean to you?

[00:03:53] Well, it's always been a part of my life. I've always gotten involved with different organizations and community outreach. But for me, it's just a way to give back to the people who live in the community where I live. And service is so important to not only building friendships, because I can't tell you how

[00:04:17] many friends we've built through these projects that we do, but it's also a way to show people outside of your community the really great things that can happen within these small communities. When we all come together around a cause or around a project that really serves to just improve our community, community. When they were building our community center, they had had really about two years where

[00:04:46] they hadn't been able to do any work because they had run out of money. So they were really, really close to being able to finish it. And somebody had an idea to sell bricks, engraved bricks, memorial bricks that would line the walkway going into the community center. But they just didn't have anybody willing to kind of step up to organize it. And for me, that was an easy, an easy do, you know,

[00:05:11] develop a form, order bricks, get, you know, and then I got found people to install them. And so we were over about 18 month period, were able to raise $35,000 to finish the community center. And that's where we held the globe bingo the other night. And so it's just kind of nice to see those things come full circle. But I think there are ways we all can get involved. And sometimes it's nothing more than

[00:05:37] writing a check. That's the best that you can do. But sometimes there are gifts and talents that you have. Like there were a group of guys in the community that came together to install the bricks. They donated their time and their knowledge of how to do that, you know, how to level the ground and put the sand in the mortar and do all those things, which is something I could not have done. But when the community comes together, there's just so many great things that can happen. And so for me,

[00:06:05] just seeing those opportunities for us to join together as a community and share our gifts is really, really rewarding. You know, I think what you're saying is so true, especially in smaller communities. We see it all the time how because we do know people in the community, we might have a deeper relationship with them. We can always find volunteers to do things like that, especially when it's giving back to the community. So that is an amazing story. I love that.

[00:06:33] Yeah. So speaking of community involvement, let's talk about the Gerard Food Pantry that you helped. You and Dan are both involved and you wrote a grant that helped the pantry go digital and ultimately access nearly $8,000 in free food for the Central Illinois Food Bank. What did that experience teach you and how good grant writing and how smart administration can directly affect people's lives?

[00:07:01] So I think they had been putting off going digital because of the cost of the equipment to do that. And just like our food pantries, like a lot of food pantries were manned solely by volunteers. Nobody's in a paid position, but it's also a lot of older people who have the time. They're retired that and technology is not always their strong suit. It is for some, but not for all of them. So they were very hesitant about

[00:07:27] going digital. But I was able to write a grant to the wind farm for $1,700 and that paid for the equipment. And then the people from Central Illinois Food Bank came down and trained us. And so once they got trained, they were like, well, this is not as hard as we kind of thought it was going to be. And then once we got going and saw the benefit, we got 100 pounds of free butter. We got 200 pounds of free

[00:07:55] ground beef. We've been able to get just tons of free food items from Central Illinois because we feed all our data directly into them, which helps them then write more grants to get more money and free product that then trickles back down to us. So it's like this full circle moment from these little things. And so I have

[00:08:20] offered to Central Illinois to speak to other food pantries about this process and how we went about doing this because I do think that it's not as hard as people think it is to go digital. The hardest part was putting in everybody's information. But now that it's in, the lady that does our, that checks everybody in when they come in on Saturday morning. She's like, I love this. I didn't think I would, but I just love

[00:08:48] that we don't have to write everything down by hand and we're, we're not tracking all that anymore. And, but it, you know, it's just, sometimes it's just fear of change. Sometimes it's a financial burden. But grant writing for me is just something that I've done throughout my career. So it's nice to be able to use some of those talents to help the food pantry. I've also written a grant, several grants

[00:09:15] for the volunteer firefighters here in town, our fire department. And so just being able to use some of my talents there to give back to the community in another way has been a really rewarding too. But the food pantry for Dan and I has just been very eyeopening to the food insecurity in our communities. I don't think we realized how many of our families struggle to put food on the table and how many

[00:09:43] children in our community might not get fed regularly without the food pantry services that we provide. We fed over 3,600 people last year, which is just astronomical for a community our size. Anyways, we spend about $50,000 a year in totally donated funds to run our food pantry. I mean, we're one of the food, a few food pantries that actually gives away meat.

[00:10:12] And we made that a cause. So our food pantry is made up of seven churches. They came together in 1978 in the basement of one of the churches here in town. And it was just a couple of shelves and church members would bring things in and put them on the shelves. And then people who needed it would contact the church and they'd come down and shop. And it's now morphed into we actually have a room in our brand new community center.

[00:10:40] So when they built the community center, they built a room in the back of it that is where we house our food pantry for free. It's just part of what the community center does for us. But so that's a cost we don't have to absorb. So it really is a labor of our entire community coming together to provide this service, but is one that is hugely beneficial to our residents.

[00:11:07] That's amazing. I'm so impressed with the digital situation and how you were able to get that up and running. And there's so many grants available that people don't access because they don't know about them. And that is a skill too, is finding the grants. Do you agree with that? Oh, absolutely. There are several websites that will help you with more national and federal grants,

[00:11:35] but local grants, you really just have to be on a lot of websites of businesses and community organizations to see what they have available because they'll post them. But you really have to be looking for those things. It's not something that is easily done. And when they come around, writing them is once you get your narrative done and you know what your purpose is and what your population is that you serve, writing grants

[00:12:01] becomes very easy because you don't, your narrative's already done. So you're just basically answering a few questions for them. And so what my business does is helps. I help communities and school districts with those narratives to write grants and then I help them to manage it. So I have a little side business that I do where I, I get paid to do this, but I do it a lot for volunteer just to help organizations and communities around me. That's awesome.

[00:12:31] Not a lot of people have the tenacity to get grant writing done. You really sound like a person who gets things done. So that's amazing. Nancy, you've identified fiscal responsibility as one of your top priorities with running from McCubbin County Board. When you look at McCubbin County's finances as they are, what do you think that the government there can be or here can be doing better with the money

[00:12:58] it already has? And where do you think that we have opportunity? So first and foremost, I think we need transparency. So most county boards post their budget, their expenditure report, their income reports all on their county board website. So any resident or any person can go and grab that information. Our county

[00:13:25] board does not do that. So when I called to ask for that information, I was told I would have to FOIA it, which is the Freedom of Information Act, where you actually have to file a letter and wait seven to ten days for them to answer the letter and then they have to digitally provide that information to you or mail it to you in paper form. I don't agree with that. As a resident, that should be information that

[00:13:54] I have at my fingertips. I should be able to go online at any point in time and see exactly where my tax dollars are being spent and where they're coming from. And that is not the case. So that's the first thing. And first and foremost for me is that we need transparency in our finances with the board. The second thing is, is that we have no strategic plan. We have no forward thinking about how we're

[00:14:23] going to spend money that comes into the county. So without that plan, when we would get, when we get money, we, I don't know how we determine how we spend it, because we don't have a plan that we need this many roads taken care of and this many bridges replaced and we need this many county services provided or we've

[00:14:48] had an uptick in the cost of our county jails or we know we're going to have a huge IMRF retirement coming up. And how do you plan for those things if you have no idea what's coming three, five, ten years down the road? And when you don't know those things, you can't plan for expenditures that are coming. And then we get these huge tax raises to pay for things that we really should have been planning for

[00:15:15] over several years, if not decades. And so for me, I think we're just kind of flying by the seat of our pants and we really need to be more intentional with how we spend the hard earned tax dollars that we're receiving from families, from seniors, from every member of our communities. And are we providing

[00:15:44] services to them that meet the needs of those communities? And so I really would love to be able to do a survey, to hold town hall meetings, to really hear from constituents about what they need from their county board and then help our county board to develop a strategic plan and really understand what our financial needs are going to be and then share those with the public.

[00:16:10] You know, if we have to raise your taxes, this is why. And you have known for two, three, five, ten years that these things were coming. And so we can all plan for those things. But right now we just kind of say, oh, we need to do this. And so we need this tax dollars or whatever. And I just, I think grant writing comes into play with this as well, because right now our state's attorney has written a

[00:16:38] $380,000 grant for victim services. It's guaranteed money, but we have to come up with 10% of that, which is $38,000. Our county board has still yet to pass funding for that money. And if he doesn't get that funding here in the next couple of months, we're going to lose the opportunity to bring

[00:17:00] $380,000 back to McCoopin County in victim services. That's housing, that's social work, that's helping children who've been abused. Those are services we could not tax our residents for. But because we could bring in grant money, why would you not automatically pass that? To me, that should have been

[00:17:23] on the agenda the very next month, and it should have been passed. That's $38,000 as a taxpayer. I am more than happy to pay to bring $380,000 in services back to the residents of McCoopin County and victims of violent crimes, victims of sexual abuse, victims of murder and rape and just anything you can imagine.

[00:17:50] Those people need those services. And our state's attorney is willing to bring that money here, and he cannot get our county board to approve the 10% match. To me, those things are unconscionable, they're unprofessional, and they do not serve the needs of our communities. And so for me, those things are just crucial. And that's why I'm running for McCoopin County Board.

[00:18:18] Wow. I did not realize that. That is incredible that that is going on. We also lost Locust Street, the free part of the living room, and that was a huge resource that probably could have been funded, possibly. But that, yeah, that is very frustrating because our taxes go up every single year here where I live,

[00:18:45] and it's just another something that you have no control over. And you just, you know, and then you can't even see where it's going. Like you said, you can't access the website. That is crazy. Mm-hmm. That all of the things that you talked about are so important, but what about the infrastructure that you believe it's not getting enough attention? Can you talk a little bit about that?

[00:19:10] There are hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure grants every year, and McCoopin County is accessing little to none of that money. And so we know, I've had multiple people reach out to me about the Montgomery County Line Road. So Dan and I drove out there in his four-wheel drive truck, and we could barely traverse that road in a four-wheel drive truck. I cannot

[00:19:38] imagine what the residents and people who work out that way, how they would drive that every day in an automobile. And so those are the kinds of things. And then I've also heard there's a road down in Bunker Hill that is in the same shape. Those things we know are problem areas. Why are we not accessing

[00:20:01] free money or money that we match with 10 or 25 percent of tax dollars to repair roads and bridges? That to me, again, is things that the board should just automatically be doing that we're not doing. And so then we tax the taxpayers more money to patch rather than replace with the grant money that's

[00:20:28] available. So, but again, we have no plan. We have no roadmap to where we want to be. And so it just, I just think we are not doing the things for the residents of McCoopin County that we should be doing as county board members. And I say we, because I hope that will be me some at some point in time. But I just think we have so many opportunities that we're just leaving money on the table.

[00:20:56] And we're taxing taxpayers to patch things that we could actually be replacing. The road with Montgomery County, I will say, is a county line road. So we share that with Sangamon County. So I called a friend of mine at the courthouse in Sangamon County and I said, can you find out if you all are working together on this? And they said, we don't work together with McCoopin County on anything.

[00:21:21] Well, why are we not? These are our border. We share borders with these people. We should be in contact with them, with their county road commissioners and going, how can we work together to write a grant or self-fund the replacement of this road? We both own it. We have residents, Sangamon County's on one side, McCoopin County's on another side.

[00:21:46] So we wouldn't even have to pay the full price to replace that road. We could share that with Sangamon County, but we're not doing those things. So I just think there's so many opportunities out there to improve our infrastructure that we just are not taking advantage of. Wow. So you mentioned earlier that you have noticed all of the homes that are abandoned or

[00:22:13] for sale in our communities, and we see that in our community too. What do you think McCoopin County could do to realistically attract new business, support the businesses that are already here, and to create opportunities to keep younger people feeling like they could actually live in their own community that they grew up in? Well, the first thing I think we need is we need

[00:22:37] a McCoopin County Economic Development Board. And I don't know that that's something that the county board could actually appoint, but I think it's definitely something that they could spearhead. They could lead the charge to bring that here. So just to give you an idea, Montgomery County's Economic Development Board just got a $1.5 million grant to bring a training facility to the Litchfield

[00:23:04] Hillsboro area. So in the daytime, it's training high school kids in plumbing, HVAC, welding, those high-paying union jobs. But their Economic Development Board is the one that spearheaded those grants to bring that. So during the day they train high school kids at night, they train adults.

[00:23:26] So they are building a workforce in Montgomery County right now that we could have been doing in McCoopin County. We would have had, we had the same opportunity for those grant funds that Litchfield and Hillsboro had, that Montgomery County had, but we don't have an Economic Development Board. So we need that. We desperately need an Economic Development Board that actually

[00:23:51] looks at what businesses are here, what businesses do we need? How do we attract those businesses? And then we build a coalition of people who can finance, people who can bring in services, people who understand real estate, people who can help with tax districts and TIF districts. And all of those people that have

[00:24:15] those expertise, you get them on a board together. And then when a business says, well, we're looking for a new location, what can you provide? You already have those people together that can say, this is what we can provide. And then you help, help them get a workforce. You, you say we have this many trained welds. So say they're, they need welders for their business. This is how many trained welders we have

[00:24:41] in McCoopin County. So you already have all that information that then you can attract businesses in, but you also help existing businesses with their infrastructure, with their marketing, because you have these people on a board and you can provide some free services to local businesses then through this Economic Development Board that then will allow them to stay viable and keep working for the people

[00:25:09] of McCoopin County. So again, I just think there's so many opportunities out there that we are not taking advantage of that would bring businesses here, keep businesses here, but maybe attract young families back to this area to fill those homes. So I think that's, again, one of the things that we just need. We need somebody to spearhead it. Somebody who say, to say, I'm willing to start these

[00:25:38] conversations with bringing the banks in, with bringing in market, bringing marketing people in, with bringing in real estate developers and people who can bring the job information in through the WIOA program, which is the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act people. They're in every county. So there are just people out there that can help us with this. We don't have to

[00:26:05] reinvent a wheel. We just need to have the initiative to do these things. And right now, we're just not, we're not doing them. Wow. This is really eyeopening, Nancy. So much of it I did not know. And so it's really eyeopening. And I really applaud you for already getting in there. You are already researching the job. I hope that you

[00:26:31] are elected so that you can instill some of these ideas. Day one, when you're elected to McCoopin County Board. We talked a lot about like the grant writing and helping municipalities around. If you could like wave your magic wand, what project would you want to spearhead first for McCoopin County?

[00:26:54] I think the first thing for me is the transparency piece. And that's the easiest piece of this. So they have all of these reports. They need to get them on the website. Anyone in this county or anywhere should be able to click a button and have that information at their fingertips. That doesn't cost any money. It's just a time. It's a time thing. And we've got to build the platform on the website to house it.

[00:27:24] But again, there's no cost to that. It's just getting it done. So for me, the transparency piece is number one. We need to know where our tax dollars are going, how they're, where they're coming in from and how they're being spent. And I don't think that that is too much to ask of any governmental agency in the country. So for me, day one, that would be my, my first task that I would like to take on.

[00:27:53] I think that's a good place to start. I mean, that sounds like it would be just getting it off, off the ground. Yes. And then you'll do the economic development board. Which is going to take a whole lot longer, but yes. Yeah. Amazing. I am so impressed with all of the plans you have already and all of the ideas that you have. And with all of your experience,

[00:28:17] you're able to pull from all of that information that you've learned and all of those experiences. And just, you're just a, you're a star county board candidate. I, I really hope that you are elected. I hope that you can do some of these things in our county because they are definitely needed. Like Whitney said, this is quite eyeopening, quite eyeopening. Thank you. So my last question is, you're running in a county where people often know the elected officials

[00:28:46] personally. What do you think makes a good county board member beyond simply voting on the issues that come before them? So how would you allow the community to know you more personally? So Pam Monetti will tell you, she, she's laughed at me often. I didn't realize this was a paid position. So after I was well into my whole campaign strategy and all of that, and she was sitting at my dining

[00:29:14] room table and she said, you get paid, there is a, there's a stipend for this. And I'm like, what, there's money for this. I had no idea this was a paid position. I just felt the need to serve my communities. But with that money, I really would like to open, have some office hours where once a month I would have an office in town. People could actually come in, they could sit down, we could have

[00:29:44] conversations. I could hold, hold many town halls. I am friends with a, a gentleman who has a business on the square in Verdon. He's already said, I have an empty office. I would be happy for you to take that up. Just once a month where people can come in and talk about the road that needs repaired or talk about the fact that, you know, their taxes have gone up to the point where they can't afford to live in

[00:30:12] their own home anymore. Or, you know, whatever it might be to just have access to their county board member on a regular basis. And you know what, nobody may ever show up and that's fine. But at least I can say I was available to them. I was available to sit and listen. I'd like to have, you know, like coffee meetings where we have coffee and donuts and have, you know, opportunities for people just to come in and

[00:30:38] chit chat, um, ask questions, um, get information. Um, I also would like to have information there available about the food pantries, about, uh, job placement opportunities. Um, I've been approached by the Verdon, um, uh, veterans, um, help me out. American Legion. The Verdon American Legion.

[00:31:02] They want to start, they want to write a grant to start a, uh, job center for veterans in their hall. Um, and so just having information about what things are available for veterans, what things are available for seniors, um, how do they contact? So maybe if they're having problems with getting mills on wheels or getting, um, connected with transportation or getting their senior discount

[00:31:30] on their license plates, they commit could come in on Saturday morning with their paperwork. And I'd be happy to help them do those things because a lot of it's online. And for seniors, sometimes that's, that's an issue, you know, with, with being able to do those things digitally and upload documents and some of the things that they have to do to access those services. So just to be available to help anyone in the community that needs a little extra assistance. Um, and so with that money,

[00:31:56] that stipend that I'd never knew I was going to get, but I'm going to have, um, I really would like to use that to give back to the community and in this small way of being available and having some office hours, um, once a month to provide some services for them. So I think as a county board member, I have a responsibility, not only to show up once or twice a month for a meeting and vote,

[00:32:21] but also to provide services to that community on a daily, weekly, monthly basis so that I can, I'm, I'm giving back to them in some way. They've elected me as their representative. And I will, I mean, I take that very seriously and will do everything I can to provide whatever help I can to my communities. I really love that idea. That's great. I have never heard of, um, I personally,

[00:32:49] I've never heard of anyone, um, on a county board volunteering their time to listen to their constituents and find out what they need. Um, that's so important because I honestly, like just myself don't even know, like, who would I call if I wanted to, you know, do this and this and this. And yeah, it's just, it's not something that is readily available at all, at all times. So

[00:33:16] that would be amazing. And I actually just helped my step-mom fill out the, um, driver's license discount for, uh, seniors. And, um, yeah, she had to have me help her do it because it was online. So I, that would be very beneficial to our seniors. Yeah. Miss St. Nancy, your sense of community service really shines through, which is amazing. Um, I wanted to give you the opportunity if there's

[00:33:43] anything else, uh, that you want us to know about you before we head to the polls, what would that be? Anything? I just want to say we have knocked on over 400 doors. Um, we've been at multiple events in the communities and the outreach and the people have just been amazing. Um, I've met so many wonderful people in North Macoopan County that I didn't know previously, but I know now. Um, and I am just,

[00:34:11] I'm looking forward to the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Um, just really feel like we are not getting, um, what we deserve for our tax dollars and, um, really just would love the opportunity to have the opportunity to give back in this way. Awesome. Well, lastly, here on Left Leaning Ladies,

[00:34:36] we're about fun too. So we talk about that quick fire round. It has nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with getting to know you. So these are really quick, easy little questions. This or that. Are you ready? Okay. All right, Nancy, coffee or tea? Coffee. What about,

[00:34:58] are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning. Well, me too. Dog or cat? Dog. Dog. Do you have dogs? I do. I have a dog. I have a, uh, miniature, uh, Australian shepherd who weighs 45 pounds. So cute. Not too many.

[00:35:23] Uh, what about, uh, sweet or salty for snacks? Salty. Salty. Favorite pizza topping? Uh, probably pepperoni. Pepperoni. What's your favorite movie of all time? How to lose a guy in 10 days. Oh, that's so good. I could watch it every day of the week. I love that

[00:35:45] movie. That's so great. Any guilty pleasures, any TV binge watching shows that we should know about? I'm a huge Bridgerton fan. I, uh, I'm very sad that sweet Magnolias is not coming back for another season. Me too. Yeah. I love those feel good TV shows. We all need feel good TV shows after a long day.

[00:36:13] Uh, do you have a favorite singer or band? I do. Her name is Alexandra Kay. She is a young up and coming country singer. Um, we've actually seen her four or five times. She's from Waterloo, Illinois. Um, she has had some success and she is just a ball of energy. And I don't know if it's because she's local or what it is, but we've just

[00:36:41] kind of connected with her and we've, every time she's somewhere where we can go and see her, we were in Louisville, Kentucky at my granddaughter's band competition and saw that she was going to be there and we went to see her that night. So yeah, we, uh, have followed her around the country almost. Yeah. Alexandra. Okay. Alexandra Kay. Um, she actually has a coffee shop in, um, Waterloo because

[00:37:06] she became famous as the coffee girl on Tik TOK. She would do morning covers while she was making her coffee. And so she's opened up this little coffee shop in Waterloo and we went down there to our coffee shop. And so, yeah, I love when you can support somebody new and upcoming and just give them a little boost. That is so awesome. We'll have to link it. We'll have to provide a link for, um, her Instagram or whatever she has. That's amazing. Yeah. Her Tik TOK.

[00:37:37] I'm, I'm going to be searching her up as soon as we get off here. I want some coffee and some singing. That sounds like a great time. Yeah. Uh, Nancy, I just wanted to tell you how much I've learned from you just tonight and, um, hearing all of the information that you already have, it seems like you're going to be going into this job seamlessly. You already have lots of ideas and can hit the ground running.

[00:38:02] So I applaud you. And I'm so excited to see, um, how your, your, the rest of your campaign works out. I know we'll be doing postcards tomorrow. I'll be there too. Um, thank you so much for sitting down with us. We really appreciate your time, especially in this busy season. Well, thank you for the opportunity. It was really great to talk with you tonight.