Richard Klein, candidate for mayor in New Athens, IL
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More on the election for New Athens mayor
Read all the questionnaires from candidates in the New Athens mayoral race. Candidates are listed alphabetically.
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Name: Richard Klein
Political party (if applicable): Independent
Age as of April 6, 2021: 57
Campaign website or social media page: None
Office seeking: Village President
Are you an incumbent? Yes
Previous offices sought: Village President and trustee
Occupation: Acetylene Operator and Supervisor
Education: High school diploma
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: While raising my three sons, I was active in Khoury League as a coach and Cub Scout leader.
Why are you running? I moved to New Athens 32 years ago after meeting my wife and have been a resident since. I have enjoyed raising my family in our small community. As a husband and parent of three boys, I have always appreciated living in a small community that I felt was friendly and safe with great schools where everyone knows each other. I decided several years ago as my kids had grown that I wanted to give back to the community that welcomed me 30-plus years ago. I want other residents to have the same experience and opportunities. Therefore, I am running for Village President to help keep our community a safe place to raise a family and to help the community as a whole to grow and thrive into a destination community.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? We are a small community and do not have a large business community to draw tax revenue or resources from. The businesses we do have are vital to our community, and I would like to retain those businesses while seeking opportunities for growth. While I enjoy the environment of small community, it also comes with the challenge of decreased resources to make improvements beyond routine, necessary maintenance. My goal is to seek new opportunities and resources to bring new businesses to our community, retain our current loyal businesses, while providing a safe community for our residents, removing vacant, condemned properties and seeking the additional resources for necessary maintenance and improvements.
Why should people vote for you? I am running for Village President because I enjoy living in New Athens and the residents of New Athens. I would like to see our community become a destination community with the clean up and redevelopment of our riverfront. A place that people from surrounding communities come to visit, eat, enjoy boating, fishing, camping and the great people of our community.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 4:58 PM.