Mayor Rex Duncan talks about the best of Du Quoin and the challenges to come

Du Quoin Mayor Rex Duncan Wednesday night told the 25 in attendance at the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce that the town should treat every day like "company is coming."

Two months into his appointment, Duncan told the chamber that "being mayor is a completely different role" and that "participatory citizens will make a profound difference."

"The best things that will be accomplished in Du Quoin will be accomplished by you," he said of all residents of the city.

Duncan said that while he serves as mayor he knows that part of his role "is to know when to get out of the way" and let the employees, the commissions and the committees do their job.

"My Du Quoin is where people come and are treated warmly," he said.

"I am optimistic. I am bullish. I am both the cheerleader and the chief. Those who see a community in decline don't see what I see," he said.

"The path for Du Quoin can be found at a regional level. We lead the state in per capita poverty and we need prosperity around us to be prosperous. Du Quoin needs to be a partner in Southern Illinois. We have to see things as a socio-economic community."

He said, "We need to be encouraging to our younger generation of leaders. There is reason for hope and for progress. We need to celebrate the opportunities."

Duncan said some of his concerns are the large number of vacant storefronts and buildings and the apathy among some of the owners that they are vacant. He said some towns benefit from a program where buildings are donated to the city, which begins to deal with them.

He said the level of education needs to be raised. He said the goal is about 60 percent of adult residents having some kind of post-high school degree. In Perry County, 25 percent of adult residents benefit from that.

He talked about the impact of SIU-Carbondale as an economic engine for the area. He said that for every 100 students at SIU there is a $1 million benefit to the economy.

Perry County has 120 employees working at SIU which equates to a local payroll of over $4 million.

He credited retired Mayor John Rednour with an "amazing" job of keeping the town neat and clean and well-maintained. "We have to act like company is coming."

Duncan said he has traveled to other communities--even West Palm Beach, Fla.--and they pale by the effort that goes into Du Quoin.

He said tourism will remain an integral part of our economy. He said he wants the Street Machine Nationals to come back "year after year" but he wants it on the city's terms.

With respect to the Kroger building, he said he held one meeting earlier this week and there is a great recruitment effort going on behind the scenes to fill that important vacancy.