Longtime Roscoe public servant Supervisor Jim Benkovich endorses Roscoe Independents

Supervisor Jim Benkovich has served Roscoe Township for 8 years. Prior to that, he served on the Hononegah School Board (as either member or president) for 18 years. He was a founding member of the HOPE Foundation.

After decades in public service, Jim is now retiring. We are proud to share his vision and have his support.

Thank you, Supervisor Benkovich.

Fellow Roscoe Township Residents, It has been my honor and privilege to serve you as Supervisor of Roscoe Township for the last eight years, however the time has come for me to move on. I am proud of the successes we have had during my time on the board. We formally named the Robert J. Cross park after the first permanent resident of Roscoe Township. In 1835 he arrived at the Indian trading post of Stephen Mack and bought a claim from one of Mack's French-Canadian employees. This claim included what came to be known as Cross Grove in the Southwest Quarter of Section 32 of Roscoe Township in the present area of Edgemere Terrace. The farm was two miles northwest of Roscoe and lay on both sides of what is now Hononegah Road. The claim made by Mr. Cross was the first made in the township for permanent settlement and cultivation and he continually resided there until his death. Robert Cross was one of the Judges at the first election held in Winnebago County and was chosen as the first Treasurer of the county. He was instrumental in setting up Winnebago County government, served as a State of Illinois legislator, and in 1847 and 1870, Robert J. Cross was a Delegate to Constitutional Conventions that framed the Constitution of the State of Illinois When he died in 1873, both the Illinois General Assembly and the Senate sent representatives (15 from the General Assembly and 4 from the Senate) to attend his funeral in Roscoe. When we learned that the original home of Robert Cross was still standing and for sale along with almost 17 acres, we negotiated and purchased the property. The Roscoe Township Historical Society is renovating the home and the Township has plans to build a Community Center on the 17 acres. The Community Center will be a place where the whole community can gather, farmers markets, art shows, music events, movie nights, classes, or lectures. Why the Community Center is Important: This is an opportunity to provide services to all residents using existing tax dollars, no tax increase will be needed to fund this project. The vision is to provide for the citizens of Roscoe Township a place where people can gather, foster relationships, build community pride, and enhance their well-being by offering programs and activities for all ages of Roscoe’s citizens. A destination center! Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic happened, and we were not able to complete the Community Center during my term. Your current board also brought the scheduling of our parks in-house because we believed the parks should be open to all our youth athletic groups rather than a few previously selected groups that had been given total control of scheduling our facilities. We also added playground equipment at Kelly Myers Park to encourage use. Of note, youth athletic groups have scheduled most of the available time, but we have also found that they do not always use the time they schedule, as a result, our fields are not used to their maximum. In 2012 the Township built what is now called Robert J. Cross Park. The plan for Phase II would have included lights for the ballfields and other amenities. While 100’s of thousands of dollars has been spent to provide services to our youth, at the same time, truly little has been spent to provide services to all our residents. There was a professional survey done a few years ago by the Village of Roscoe and a Community Center was at the top of what the residents felt was needed. Even though I am a life-long Republican, I support and will be voting for the Independent candidates because I know they will complete the Community Center. I am concerned that the whole motive of the Republican Slate is adding athletic fields and lights rather than building a Community Center. Thank you for allowing me to represent you and I am asking you to consider voting for these candidates. Sincerely, Roscoe Township SupervisorJim Benkovich