Chemberly Harris outlines her intentions if named Normal Mayor

Image courtesy of the Town of Normal

NORMAL, Ill. –  Normal Town Council member Chemberly Harris is one of the candidates in the running to be the next Normal Mayor.

 Harris has been serving on the town council for almost eight years and has participated in change since the beginning of her term. Some of the events, motions, or movements she participated in include voting on incentive plans or the underpass, starting the Youth on a Mission program, and bringing the first racial equity summit to Illinois.

 “Looking forward, one of my biggest inspirations for running is [asking] ‘what is our vision for the future,’ and for me there’s so much running through my mind of where we can go,”  Harris said. “Not just where we are and not in a negative way, but I just felt like we don’t have a vision forward.”

Harris’ major plan is what she calls THRIVE, which stands for technology, housing, reimagining cultural diversity, intentional community engagement and vibrant community development. Each one of these aspects works with different changes occurring in the community throughout the years, either economically, socially or somewhere in between.

 “We’re seeing more diversity and people hear diversity and automatically think of race, and again I think that’s an environmental thing,” Harris said. “If you look up the definition of diversity, race is a pin drop in what that definition means. You can have diversity in a lot of things.”

 According to Harris, collaboration of the community in all fields allows for different perspectives to be heard. Perspectives regarding different issues allows change to be made in the way things work and produce results.  

  “We want people to feel like we have a voice. Now, we may not always agree in every situation or circumstance, but I want people to walk away from every situation feeling valued, feeling heard and feeling respected,” Harris said. “So I think it’s important that we have that type of intentional engagement, whether it’s something like how we did the Summer of Love event, or finding other ways to have public engagement that doesn’t necessarily have to be reactive to a situation, but proactively.”

Harris attended a mayoral forum hosted by local NPR affiliate station WGLT, alongside the other Normal candidates. When asked about a time she made a decision that went against the grain, she referenced last year’s ordinance requiring 24 hours notice before a landlord enters a normal residence. The hour limit was in danger of being reduced down to 12, but Harris stuck to her guns because she believed the 24-hour standard was in the best interest of the renters.

She did not specify how she planned to vote on the 1% grocery tax increase, but she did express concerns on how community services could be negatively impacted if the tax does not get approved.

Municipal elections will take place on April 1. Early voting opened in late February.