Freeport mayoral candidates vie for place on April ballot - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

Freeport mayoral candidates vie for place on April ballot

Several primary races are taking place around the stateline area on Tuesday, but one of the most hotly contested is that for Freeport mayor.

Incumbent George Gaulrapp faces the man he replaced, former mayor Jim Gitz, in the race to represent the Citizen's Party on the April ballot, while realtor Bettye Corbin and small business owner Jon Staben are facing off to represent the People's Party.

13 News spoke with Gaulrapp, Corbin, and Staben to get their views on what the City of Freeport needs in a leader.

"Freeport's been losing companies over the past few years, the jobs are going away," Staben says. "There's no real plan that I can see to reverse that trend; we need to bring small business back to Freeport."

Gaulrapp says, "We have balanced the budget recently...we have a $300 a year savings in electricity, we're doing the right things. We just need the economy to break a little bit, not just for our city, but for our state, for our nation."

"We need to think ahead," Gitz claims. "We need to have a focused job strategy, we need to work with our neighborhoods, we need to bring back community policing. We need to tackle these problems, and tackle them with programs that work and with focus."

13 News was unable to reach Bettye Corbin for a comment.

Kathy Knodle is also in the race to become Freeport's mayor. She will appear on the April ballot as an Independent.