Meet Annette Corrigan

Annette's Response to Questions from the League of Women Voters of Wheaton

What are your qualifications for the DuPage County Board Member position?

My qualifications for the DuPage County Board Member position mainly stem from being a trained and experienced problem-solver as an attorney, mediator and collaborator. I am currently practicing in the area of family law, but my legal background has been diverse, including practice in the areas of employment, contracts, construction and tort litigation, to name a few. I also bring six years of experience in governance for our community as a Trustee at the College of DuPage. Since 2011, I have worked with my husband to establish our own business and, as a result, garnered practical experience in owning and running a business and overcoming the challenges to bring a product to market. Lastly, I am a strong communicator, attentive listener and diligent researcher, all necessary skills for a person in leadership.

What do you see as the top opportunities for the DuPage County Board to address?

Business development is a “top opportunity” for DuPage County. We want existing DuPage County businesses to thrive. We want new businesses to choose DuPage County as their home. People continue to move to DuPage from Chicago (due to high crime, high cost of living, etc.). We need to continue to capitalize on promoting our community's resources, better quality of life, safer streets and neighborhoods, and proximity to the “good things” Chicago still has to offer, to encourage businesses to move here. A rigorous marketing plan combined with an ambassador program would be a starting point. Also, having been a Trustee at the College of DuPage for the past six years, I would like to see DuPage lead as THE MODEL COMMUNITY for “college internship to employment” programs to grow business. The Board’s role would include assisting in the building of relationships between our educational institutions and business leaders to create the necessary pathways for labor-employment opportunities.

What are your top budget priorities if elected?

If elected to the Board, I would listen to my constituents and prioritize those topics that are identified as most important to them. Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Survey Results are easily found on the DuPage County website. As reflected in the “Conclusions” section, the topic priorities include: public safety, transportation and economic development.

How would you work across jurisdictions to improve services like affordable housing, transportation, policing, social services, and the economy?

No doubt, our community is best served when the diverse, sometimes over-lapping government (taxing) bodies effectively work together to provide services and resources in the most cost-effective manner. It would surprise me if this did not already exist in the form of a kind of “task force”, but I would start with promoting sharing of information through regular inter-governmental meetings to identify duplicative resources. Sharing of existing resources or joining with other governmental agencies to obtain and provide cross-jurisdictional assets would provide economic savings and efficiencies for all stakeholders. Some steps to implement this would include setting up intergovernmental committees, negotiating agreements to provide direction, objectives and encouraging data-sharing and staffing among the governing bodies.

What steps do you support to increase public engagement with and increase the transparency of the County Board?

The most effective governance strategy includes community participation so citizens feel heard and connected to their elected. Access to information, including knowing what the issues are and being able to easily participate in communicating feedback, is a priority. DuPage County Board has done well with access (Transparency Portal) to meetings available in-person, where public comment is available to citizens at every meeting, online “live” attendance at meetings via remote access, and the availability of viewing past meetings through taped/archived access. The one change I believe is long over-due to improve citizen engagement that will enhance transparency is to move meetings from during the day to after-work-hours so more people are able to attend the meetings in-person to listen and speak on the issues (during public comment) without interference with work. As I have done as a Trustee at COD, Board members must make themselves available to meet and discuss issues with residents.