Paul and Shari Giffin Genesee Township Trustee's
Welcome to Paul and Shari
Our Story
We would like to introduce ourselves, Paul and Shari Giffin. We are both life long residents of Whiteside County. Paul was born and raised in Prophetstown IL. He has experience working with the public as he has been employed with the Illinois Department of Correction for the past 27 years and is currently a Parole Agent for the State of Illinois.
Shari was born and raised 10 miles south west of Coleta in rural Morrison, Illinois on a hog farm. She has a passion for helping the public and has been employed at CGH Medical Center for the past 17 years as a Physical Therapist Assistant. We have 2 wonderful children Sydney and Luke.
Shari’s parents Gordon and Paulette Zaagman have owned and farmed the land southwest of Coleta on Blue Goose Road in Genesee township. We purchased 2 acres from them back in 2012 to establish our residence. Prior to purchasing the land we were told by a former road commissioner that Blue Goose Road was next on the list to be paved. Fast forward to 2024 and still Blue Goose Road remains the same, unchanged, and in worse condition than in 2012.
Starting in 2017, the hauling of manure from the large hog confinement on Manton Road began. The hog farm used overweight tankers hauled by tractors down mainly Rick and Blue Goose Road, under the directions of our current township road commissioner to preserve the paved roads. This created havoc on the residents that occupied Rick and Blue Goose Road as well as other neighboring roads. The haulers drive up and down the gravel roads from sun up until sun down every 5-10 minutes, pulverizing and destroying our roads. It also created unsafe travel conditions causing whiteouts and left us stranded inside our homes while this took place due to the amount of stirred up gravel dust. This occurred yearly and for several weeks at a time.
Several neighbors joined together and brought this to the attention of our current Township Board multiple times with the response that there was nothing that could be done. Several thousands of taxpayers dollars were spent repairing the destroyed gravel roads.
Thanks to a very smart local farmer and the collaboration of neighbors, we came up with a solution for running drag lines to remove the manure instead of using the tankers that were destroying our roads. This is a common and frequently used solution.
When we approached the board about the solution, we were told to hire a lawyer and that it was our responsibility to get the haulers off the road. After several meetings with the neighbors, township officials, Whiteside County Board, hauling contractor, and hog confinement owners there has been resolution which has taken several months. This should have been the responsibility of the Genesee township board members and not the primary responsibility of the electors.
This is the reason we are running for Trustee. We want to be a part of a team and a voice for our electors to make positive changes to better our township and find solutions to problems. With the right people on the board such as Rich(supervisor)and Theresa Koch(trustee) , Paul(trustee) and Shari Giffin(trustee), we will strive for transparency and positive solutions.
Sincerely,
Paul and Shari Giffin
Please check out our friends site Rich and Theresa Koch to get information on their campaign for township supervisor and trustee.