Blaine Bastien's Standards Were High; A Great City Administrator Remembered

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It was a joy to be outnumbered by Blaine Bastien.

You found comfort and solace in the clear thinking of a man whose intelligence and keen sense of fiscal responsibility and fair play warranted his appointment as city administrator for the first time in Du Quoin's history.

As city finance commissioner and former city clerk Rex Duncan (whom Blaine succeeded) said from his business development office at SIU-Carbondale, "He is one of the smartest and hardest working people I have ever met, but he didn't wear that on his sleeve. When we took the gloves off and made him city administrator it was with the confidence that he could do it. He wore that job like a tailor-made suit."

Blaine, who died from cancer Monday morning at the age of 55, made the transition seamlessly from mining engineer at Consolidation Coal Company's Rend Lake mine to city clerk only two weeks after the mine's closure in 2003. "Blaine came into the office and asked me if I thought he could do the job," Duncan remembers.

"I feel badly for our town. There was something special there," said Duncan. He said he encouraged Blaine to apply for the position, knowing it can "be easy to be pulled into the rocks."

As a people it is hard to accept Blaine's death in a line of unrelenting tragedy that has included the untimely deaths of Chief of Police (retired) James Booker (November 2007), Du Quoin Fire Chief Richard Fronek (December 2007) and Du Quoin fireman Corey Shaw (June 2011). Surely, this isn't the "new normal."

Blaine's appointment was the right decision for the City of Du Quoin and for Blaine, the son of a sightless military hero and circuit judge whose vision of what public service and family are about set the gold standard. His father was a combat-ready fighter pilot whose courage after being burned and blinded was the inspiration for national magazine articles.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at the St. John's United Church Christ in Du Quoin with Rev. Rich Luh officiating. Friends may call from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday at St. John's United Church Christ in Du Quoin and from 9 a.m. until time of service at the church on Wednesday. Interment will be at Sunset Memorial Park.

"We will never have a city clerk like him again," said Mayor John Rednour, who asked that flags be flown at half staff through Wednesday. "He could be city clerk and still head up all of the city's future planning. He was honest and loyal and will be hard to replace." Rednour said he had fond memories of all of the discussions they had about public service and what it took to keep Du Quoin one of the most fiscally responsible cities in Southern Illinois.

He will be laid to rest wearing an embroidered "City of Du Quoin" administrative shirt.

"Blaine's whole thing was faith, family and friends," his wife Randee remembered of her beloved husband. She is the other half of a very strong and beautiful marriage, born to Mr. and Mrs. Bob Heape and growing up in her father's West Side Drug Store.

"Blaine loved his job," said Randee. "He died too young, but he always believed that everything was meant to be. He has the most awesome friends," she said.

Certainly one of them is Cha Hill, former Perry County treasurer who was elected city finance commissioner and now serves as superintendent of Pyramid State Park.

"Cha came by or called EVERY day," said Randee.The two shared friendship through sports, service to the city, as outdoorsmen and raising great children.

Blaine rose above cynicism about good government and proved that it can and does exist. He wasn't afraid to right some of the wrongs in public service, and remind everyone that you serve at the will of the taxpayer, not on the shoulders of opportunism.

You don't just invest in a community. You believe in it. You try to bring an integrity. You embrace altruism.

When those discussions came up his response was always the same-- "You betcha."

Good government takes work and anyone who believes that the occasional sacrifice isn't part of it is fooling themselves. He knew that the success of a community is about taking into consideration the aspirations of all.

His treatments for cancer weakened Blaine, but in recent weeks he ran the city from a laptop computer and cell phone at his home. "As long as they decide to keep paying me I'm going to do the job," he said. Even in his hours of hospice care, he found hope is some cutting edge genetic-based cancer research that he hoped would be a game-changer and provide his family with the miracle they needed. We all hoped for that.

Blaine trained his staff well and the City of Du Quoin remains in good hands.