(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music swells) - Dan Brady is no stranger to politics.

The Bloomington native is a former state representative, and as of May 1st, he will be the mayor of Bloomington.

Dan, thanks for coming in.

- Thanks for having me, Mark.

Good to be with with you.

- Congratulations on your win.

- Thank you very much.

- So before we talk about some issues involving Bloomington, I'm curious, after all of your years as a representative, and, of course, you were the coroner for the county for a while, why the run for mayor?

- Well, several reasons, but one was, I can still hear my father speaking to me saying, "Go where you think you can do the greatest good."

And at that stage in my life, coming off a statewide race and my years as representative and exploring some other options, I really felt that staying right at home might be the best place for me to do the greatest good.

And so had some encouragement with friends and family, looked at the lay of the land in Bloomington, and thought there were some things I could bring to the table, and helping with citizens of Bloomington and Bloomington overall.

And so I explored it further, and then decided that I was going to run for mayor of Bloomington, and here I am.

- Well, your family must have been happy knowing that you could still be in politics and be at home every night.

- Well, yeah, I think so.

Depends on what day you catch my wife, Teri.

But looking at its 60 precincts versus, you know, running statewide in 102 counties or a legislative district where you have at least three, you know, mostly three counties, four counties, or, you know, petitional congressional run with 17 or 16 counties, I just felt that it was time, and I had the flexibility from my business side of things to be able to give back and be flexible.

You know, it's a part-time job.

But if you work it like I believe I'll work it and many others have over the years, it's a full-time job.

So I'm excited and ready to go.

- What are some of your proudest accomplishments in your time as a state representative, more than 20 years?

- Well, I think, when you look at my role as representative, obviously, I had represented Bloomington, either all of Bloomington or parts of Bloomington my entire time in the Illinois General Assembly.

From my role as representative, I was very involved, obviously, with things that that community was, Illinois State University, so higher education, business in the area of insurance, State Farm, Country, and others.

But I also focused in quite a little bit on areas of public safety, the business-related aspects, but also identity theft.

Many years ago, when I first was elected, I worked on a number of pieces of legislation.

One was really, after you were involved with identity theft, trying to restore your credit rating in the state and nationally.

And so that was a great feat.

And then I think just being able to be a individual that people saw as their representative, that whatever your politics was, you, you know, thought and believed that if you called Dan Brady, you're gonna get a return call, and you're going to get some type of attempt to try and help you with your problem.

Because as I said, for all my time as representative, nobody ever called me once and checked in to say, how's your day going?

They'd call me because they needed something.

They needed help.

- Exactly, in 2022, you decided to take a shot at the Secretary of State office.

What made you want to take that leap?

- Well, that had been a long-term goal of mine.

But there was always someone called Secretary Jesse White, and who's a good friend and was a great help and mentor to me.

Because I worked with Secretary White on a number of initiatives, organ and tissue donation from my days as county coroner.

I worked with the secretary on driving-related issues for young people, as former coroner, and a number of other areas in the Secretary of State's office, and carried some legislation for the secretary.

And we developed a friendship.

Now, we were two different parties, but lo and behold, you can do that.

You can get along with other people, other parties.

And so the secretary had been there for a long time.

When he decided that he was not going to run, that was probably the only opportunity in my lifetime that I was gonna have that chance to do something that I felt, really, I had a great resume for, and that was secretary of state.

And we got halfway there, but then not all the way.

So our secretary of state today, Mr. Giannoulias, Alexi and I have, was glad to be on a transition team of his, when all this was said and done, and help in some areas.

So, and we stay in contact today.

- In your time as state representative, you were reelected many times, sometimes unopposed, but the times you were opposed, you won handily.

What was it like, after 20-plus years, not winning?

- Well, it was the first, and the first election that I'd ever lost, if you mean- - Yeah.

- the general election, secretary of state.

- Yeah.

- That was an experience that nobody likes, but someone once told me that success is never final, and failure is never fatal.

And so we moved on.

We took some time and got our youngest, Tom, out of school, college, and then looked to where we might be able to go back and give back and help.

And that was the fit.

But certainly, nobody likes to lose.

I don't like to lose.

But when you look at what I accomplished, and in that primary, in particular, I wasn't the party's, the Republican party's, chosen person.

And so I went against the establishment there, and I became the Republican nominee.

I was close, closer than any other Republican running on that ticket in the general election for the statewide offices.

But nonetheless, everything happens for a reason, Mark, in life.

And I wish I knew exactly what that was, but I'm here now, and I'm ready to serve Bloomington.

- Working as a funeral director, that's such a unique job.

And, man, emotionally, you have to be very strong.

You're around a lot of grieving people all the time.

What did you learn in the business that you're still in that has helped you in politics?

- And you know all too well what that profession's like and trying to help families at their worst time, their most difficult time in their life.

One of the things I learned, especially in my time as coroner, as it relates to the political side of things and interacting with people and trying to help them and return their calls or interact with them, was, you know, getting back to them, and meaning that people, I can always remember, as a representative, they would say, "You know it's Sunday night at 6:30?"

Yeah, but you called me earlier in the day.

I'm trying to get back to you.

And by that, I mean it just, it was never nine to five to me.

You know, weekends, those are nice, but weekends meant work.

Holidays, those are nice, but that meant work.

And I think that that spilled over, if you will, and carried over in a positive way that people felt that I would get back to 'em.

And as I said numerous times, I can't guarantee the outcome, but I'll guarantee you a phone call on your behalf.

As I said earlier, people reach out to their representative because they wanna be represented, and they got an issue.

- Do you feel like you're a more empathetic person having worked in this field?

- Oh, I think so.

I think so.

It helps you from one standpoint at least.

You put in perspective what's really important in life.

And all the things that we think are so important and that we have control over or need to have control over really doesn't matter when it comes to losing a family member, as you well know.

And that situation, when you're able to help, is extremely important.

It teaches you patience, empathy, as you said.

And that can be applied in what you do in serving people that need help or assistance when it comes to government.

And so I think that part of my resume that I've built over the years has been an eyeopening experience to help people.

- On election day, you know, we have a mayor in Peoria now, Rita Ali, who's gonna have a second term.

Chris Koos won again in Normal.

You know, these mayoral processes are supposed to be nonpolitical, but of course they are.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

- Your race didn't seem to have any big controversies or mud slinging, whereas some of the others may have had a tinge of those.

What do you attribute that to?

- Well, there's a tinge to it.

And whatever the race is, whenever you have to, or don't have to, not attack but kind of scratch the surface of somebody's character, that gets touchy.

And when you do that, people are gonna respond.

And when you kick the dog, you know, it's not gonna just lay there.

It's gonna get up.

And so there's a little bit of that.

But what drew me to this race also from a political standpoint was nonpartisan.

And in my role as representative and in county government, too, but especially as representative, I was always in the minority.

So to get anything done for the district I represented, I had to work across that aisle.

I had to build relationships.

And you hear this a lot, but I'm very sincere about that.

And true, there are those who just can't let the R thing go.

There are those who just can't let the D thing go.

And one of the things that was eyeopening to me when I announced I was running for mayor in Bloomington, I have good friend invited me to a Democratic fundraising dinner.

And prior to that I got to go to the Republicans' dinners and listen to how bad the Democrats were.

This time I got to go to the Democrat dinner and listen to how bad the Republicans were.

So it was something that was a good experience in trying to keep that nonpartisan role in city government, I think, is really important.

And I see creeping in, though, that I saw from my own race, creeping in that people are trying to bring back a party aspect of things in a municipal nonpartisan race.

Because there was just people as I would work, you know, my own hometown where I was born and raised, some people were just, couldn't get the blinders off about things.

And they said, well, yeah, but you're a Republican.

Yeah, but this is a nonpartisan race.

Yeah, but you're a Republican.

I'm like, you gotta be kidding me.

But that's the mindset of some people.

And then we wonder why we have some of the problems we do.

- Well, it seems like these days, especially in the federal level, state level- - Oh no, that- - You're either very left, you're very right, you're very liberal, you're very conservative.

- Right.

- But even in your time as a state representative, even though you are a Republican, you seem to be more towards the moderate, the centrist end of things.

- Oh, I am.

You know, I'm- - Do you think that helped you in this race?

- I do.

What also helped me in this race, and to back up for one minute, what I always tried to do was put myself in the other person's shoes, meaning whatever their political beliefs are, I was more about what can we get done versus the political party ideological standpoint of things.

And to this day, I still struggle with people who would walk the plank for a political party, meaning, I mean, just that mindset is hard to believe versus trying to get something done and work with somebody else, whatever their party belief is.

So that was one aspect.

And also what helped me, I believe, in the race, is that I knew the people of Bloomington, and the people of Bloomington knew me.

And whether they believed in my politics or what it was or wasn't, they could tangibly see, I know Dan because I know him from here or there or wherever.

And, you know, he's responsive.

He's reliable.

He's an individual, I think, would do a good job no matter what your political party is.

Wish everybody believed that, but not everybody did in the race, obviously.

But majority did, and I think that's very important.

- Well, as a candidate, you've been able to observe the present and previous government in Bloomington, and everybody knows who you are.

What do you think about the council that's there now?

Have you had any contact with them before you started the job?

How do you think you're gonna be able to work with them?

- I think well.

I think, when you look at my role as representative, I worked with, I think, almost five different mayors in the city of Bloomington, several different city managers, I don't know how many different members of the council, and working on projects for Bloomington and bringing, hopefully, things back for Bloomington and capital dollars and things from the state.

Looking at the new council that's gonna be sworn in on May 1st, there are gonna be new faces there.

And I think I will...

I've reached out and talked and had some good rapport.

But look, the issues are gonna be many, and where you're gonna go and find the votes needed as mayor to do some of the things that you think need to be done and find that common ground, that's gonna be a challenge because there are several of us and some folks that would be brand new, and yeah, we're cut from a different political cloth.

So we're gonna have to find that common ground.

- Let's talk about some of the issues that are going on with Bloomington.

Lately, in the news, it's been the city's water supply, namely that it stinks, and it tastes funny.

This seems like an issue that just popped up.

I don't know if it really just popped up, or if it's been something that's been ongoing, and now it's kind of at a breaking point.

What's your take on the water situation?

- Well, I was just at the water plant yesterday up at Lake Bloomington, and in a program that was being, by the Soil and Water Conservation of McLean County, which was very informative.

And I've been involved in the ongoing problem from the standpoint of trying to learn more about it.

I'm far from any expert in any side of the water, except I know from knocking on doors in Bloomington that people would tell you about the water and that it smelled, and it tastes bad, and it had things in it.

When your water rates go up, and the quality of your water goes down, that's a recipe for a big problem.

And when you say going back a little bit, we can go way back, I think, when some priorities towards water should have been followed through, and they weren't.

But we've gotta move forward now.

My concern right now is, as the mayor elect, is, what's been done thus far?

Is it truly clearing the problem?

And is it truly bringing down the levels that we need to see come down?

And, you know, there's an answer or, might say, excuse, for a lot of things that have happened, but the reality is we are at a point, some say it's getting better, which I believe that it is, but we're at a point where we have restaurants that use bottled water to cook with.

We have individuals going to those restaurants, buying.

We have individuals saying we're going to eat in Normal 'cause the water's better.

So all those things are very concerning.

And I know we have good people working on this issue, but I, and in my plan that I had put out regarding the water, I wanna make sure that we're networking with some more expertise in that area of not only state but national.

And so switching over here today or tomorrow to Lake Bloomington to start pumping out of there, I hope that's the help.

Some of the equipment that has been purchased and coming in, I think, will be helpful.

But long term, I think Bloomington needs to be looking at, how do we get off the surface water and talk about the groundwater?

- Let's talk a little bit about the 2026 budget, projected to be less than we currently have.

- Correct.

- What are your thoughts on the budget?

I guess there's a projected property tax revenue drop.

That's why we're not gonna be spending as much money next year.

What are your thoughts on that?

And what are the challenges that the city could be facing?

- Well, it's a great time to come into office, to experience that.

But, you know, that storm, as I've said before, is off, you know, here, and it's about ready to hit shore.

And so our city manager has seen that, and Jeff Jurgens, our relatively new city manager.

And it's going to mean about maybe $6 1/2 million of deficit spending that is proposed.

They're gonna bring the budget reduced down around $21 million, give or take.

What does that mean?

That means everything's on the table.

That means things that I was very familiar with in Springfield, which was early outs, early retirements, you know, belt tightening from the standpoint of, what can we consolidate?

What are we gonna hold off on major capital purchases?

What can we do along those lines, before we talk about any type of enhancement revenue-wise, what can we do internally?

And I believe there's things we can do internally.

But, you know, we're talking about this type of challenge and storm about ready to hit shore when we have projects in the city of Bloomington, like the revitalization of downtown Bloomington, money that's been not only appropriated by the city but other means, a TIF district for it.

So we're gonna have to have a big cheerleader for Bloomington in a lot of respects to bring capital dollars back home and try and deal with the internal problems of the finances.

- You mentioned the Streetscape project, very big project.

What are your thoughts on that?

And is that something that can still be done with the money issues the city's having?

- Yes, I believe it can be.

And I think it's gonna take the stewardship and direction, as I said, of a cheerleader that's a big, loud cheerleader for Bloomington on a lot of fronts.

I went through some of this when I was representative in office to Normal, when it was uptown Normal, and working with the TIF district there.

What I know is the council has passed this, and it was unanimously passed by the present council that we have.

It's roughly a six-phase plan.

The city committed somewhere around $29 million, probably the whole price tag now, total over those six phases, or some 52 million.

And I think that the focus right now that gets lost a little bit with some people is that it's the core infrastructure of downtown Bloomington that's going to get help first.

It's desperately needed in downtown, not only from the sewer infrastructure but other type of underground utilities that need to be looked at and prevented.

And I think that has been a negative aspect of the city over the years, meaning not keeping up with what needs to be done.

- So it's a lot more than just a fresh coat of paint.

- It's a lot more than just a fresh coat of paint.

- Yeah.

Let's talk about a problem that Normal's facing, that Peoria's facing, the situation with homeless, the unhoused.

What are your thoughts on what the city can do?

I know Home Sweet Home Ministries has a plan, and they're building a small cabin village for at least housing for these folks.

But they also need jobs and things like that.

What are your thoughts?

- My thoughts is, you probably don't have enough time on the show to give you all my thoughts.

But the first phase of my thoughts was back in the summertime, when we had people down at Home Sweet Home Mission in tents laying on asphalt of getting up to 110 degrees.

And I had made a proposal that we should have an emergency declaration made by the Disaster Council locally on to state government, to the governor, have him make a disaster, and then bring in some help from the state through the Office of Homelessness, which was a new office, relatively, that has some funds to assist.

We then move into Bloomington side of it when you talk about the winter months.

And we have purchased a new, what will be a new city yard.

And I had made a suggestion last September that we go out and use some of those 24, 26 facilities that are out there right now, like Marten sheds, put people in there, just temporarily, to get 'em through the winter months.

Now we have a situation to where the tents are highly visible and at least two areas of homelessness encampments, you might say.

The answer is it's a Bloomington-Normal problem, just like it is for so many other communities.

So what are you going to do?

Well, you can take the eyesore and the problem, and you can try and move it elsewhere.

And the building that's that's being talked about, that is right now owned by Connect Transit and dealing with Home Sweet Home Mission and the building of these smaller units and so on, it's becoming more of a talked about, maybe controversial situation as more people learn about that.

And so we'll have to see.

My answer is it's not going away, but there's a lot of individuals that have been working on it.

But there's gonna have to be some decisions made here shortly that probably aren't gonna be very popular.

- Another problem that Bloomington shares with Normal is the housing shortage.

And it's not just for... A lot of people, I think, assume, oh, well, you know, Rivian's hiring so many people.

They're coming in.

They can't find housing.

Well, neither can the people who need low-income housing in the Twin Cities.

What are your thoughts on that?

- My thought is affordable housing means, to most people, affordable.

What's being built around Bloomington's not really affordable housing for the people that need it.

Whether you, whoever you believe.

You know, we're behind some 4,000 units.

So what do you do?

Number one, we've got inventory.

What is empty, sitting around the city of Bloomington, meaning empty lots, buildings, things that we can look at?

It's not just building anew.

What can we rehab?

And what can we do in the way of making it less of a challenge to get things remodeled and moving along or built, from permits, from inspections, from all those type of things?

And what incentives can we give builders and investors to wanna do this and help with the problem?

Not too long ago, I took a tour of a project that was in Hayworth.

And that project had builders from, I believe it was Taylorville and over in Indiana, one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom homes, or apartments, I should say, that had some HUD funding and backing and so on.

And so there, again, we're talking about possibly federal help.

Whatever the answer's gonna be, it's gonna take a combination of private and public partnership.

And it's gonna take a mayor that's gonna be involved to try and develop those public-private partnerships.

And it's gonna take investors and builders who want to work with you to do this, but you're gonna have to help them from the standpoint of all the red tape that's there right now that they have to go through to do it.

And so whatever we do, we have to look at what's existing there and what we can use and what we can put together for the least amount of money and get people to partner up with the city and put a product out there in a home that people can afford.

- One more topic before we let you go, let's talk about safety, public safety.

Everyone's interested in that.

- [Dan] Sure.

- How do you think Bloomington is doing in terms of keeping its residents safe?

And would you like to see anything improve, change, anything like that?

- Well, there's no community that's not without their challenges in public safety.

In fact, throughout the campaign, I talked about public safety, made it a cornerstone of my platform.

You know, without public safety, people aren't gonna wanna come to your community.

One of the reasons, one of the reasons I got into running for mayor of Bloomington was when we had a shooting on our street where I live, where I call home in Bloomington.

No one is immune from the problem of violence with that.

But what I found was an eyeopener a little bit of, after, like, something like that happened in our neighborhood, becoming the advocate, I guess, and dealing with the city, they were wonderful, but we kind of had to go find them.

And it should have been the other way around, I thought, and a lot of my neighbors.

But looking at things differently, what can we do to address the issue of the guns and the drugs on the streets of Bloomington?

Can we bring back what was a vice unit?

Can we move officers that are assigned to different areas or departments dealing with other drug problems over a multi-county task force drug unit?

We need our officers back in Bloomington, as many as we possibly can, and we need to see the best way we're going to get the guns and drugs off the street and felony arrests made.

And so the chief and others and our state's attorney, we've had conversations already, and we're gonna continue to have more conversations to see how we can attack that problem.

- All right, Dan Brady, you start the new job officially in a few weeks.

I know you're already working hard on it, but we wish you the best of luck.

- Thank you.

- And thank you for coming on tonight and- - Thanks, yeah.

- [Mark] Keep in touch.

- I will.

I hope I can come back.

- All right.

- Thank you very much, Mark.

- Appreciate your time.

Would love to have you back.

- Thank you.

- And that is our time for right now.

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