Jennifer
Bertino-Tarrant
for Will County Executive
“Reliable county services. Balanced budgets. Public safety. These are my priorities as your County Executive.”
-Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant
About
Jennifer
Born and raised in Will County around her family’s small business, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant is no stranger to hard work and determination. Through a career spent dedicated to education advocacy and public service, Jennifer has developed a no-nonsense, bipartisan style that reflects the shared values of Will County residents.
Sworn into office in December of 2020, Jennifer became the first woman elected to serve as county executive. Under Jennifer’s leadership, Will County adopted the largest infrastructure improvement plan in Will County’s history to improve critical infrastructure and modernize county government – creating and supporting thousands of good-paying jobs and ensuring Will County continues to lead the region in development and job creation.
As the chief administrator of the day-to-day operations of county government, Jennifer has established a fundamental tenet for the office to create an accessible, inclusive, and collaborative county government to help build and support thriving communities in Will County. Jennifer diversified her leadership team throughout county departments as well as boards and commissions.
Jennifer began her career teaching high school students, before becoming a school principal. During that time, Jennifer also taught classes to aspiring teachers at Joliet Junior College.
Jennifer first entered public service in 2006 after being elected as Regional Superintendent of Schools in Will County. As Regional Superintendent, Jennifer opened Lincoln School, a program for at-risk students and advocated for quality professional development opportunities for teachers.
Jennifer served two terms in the Illinois General Assembly as a State Senator, continuing her advocacy for public education. She was an important architect in reforming Illinois’ broken education funding system, investing hundreds of millions of new dollars to schools annually. She played a significant role in shepherding numerous pieces of legislation working on public health and safety, business reforms, protection of seniors and expanding services for veterans.
Jennifer is proud to have received the Joliet Chamber Athena Award as well as received recognition from local organizations, including the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce, Joliet Catholic Academy, Lambda State of Delta Gamma Kappa, and South Suburban Parks and Recreation.
“We have created a compassionate county government, with the goal of empowering and elevating our residents at the forefront of everything we seek to accomplish in Will County.”
– Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant
Jennifer for Will County | Announcement
On the Issues
“We strive to create an accessible, inclusive, and collaborative county government to help build and support thriving communities in Will County.”
Putting Families First
Under Jennifer’s leadership, Will County continues to lead the region in development and job creation, attracting new businesses as well as seeing the expansion of existing businesses. Wages are rising and more people are employed in this county than ever before. Our high-skilled workforce and strong labor foundation helps drive this. Jennifer will continue efforts to make Will County business friendly, empower our residents to attain high-paying jobs and supporting their growth and career mobility.
To help make Will County a more attractive place for families to live and work, Jennifer has pushed for the construction of new sidewalks and bikeways and directed more resources to replacing aging water infrastructure that has struggled to keep up with a growing population.
Being Fiscally Responsible
Through Jennifer’s proactive approach to governing, the county has realized millions in savings through modernization, better use of existing resources and energy savings. Jennifer is demonstrating that reducing costs doesn’t have to lead to a reduction in delivering quality service.
Prioritizing
Public Safety
Jennifer knows protecting families is the most important job and has put it front and center of her administration. That’s why she has taken steps to support law enforcement while also providing necessary resources to community groups working to provide support those in need.
Tackling the opioid and fentanyl crisis is both a public health and public safety issue. To help combat the crisis, Jennifer has directed more resources to law enforcement, so they have the tools necessary to crack down on drug trafficking while also increasing the number of police in our communities.
To help save lives, she increased funding for overdose prevention and drug treatment efforts to compassionately help those struggling with substance use and addiction.
To better prepare our communities for future public health concerns, she funded a program to train hundreds of local first responders to assist local police and fire respond to large-scale emergencies.
Building Will Together
Continuing to build on Will County strong foundation of economic growth, Jennifer worked to pass the largest infrastructure improvement plan in Will County’s history to improve our critical infrastructure – creating and supporting thousands of good-paying jobs and ensuring Will County continues to lead the region in development and job creation.
Jennifer kept her promise to modernize local government to meet the needs of a growing Will County. Jennifer oversaw the construction of new facilities for our public health department, animal control and county coroner and embraced new technologies to provide more efficient and effective services for residents.
Jennifer has also invested millions in our county’s transportations system, improving our roads and bridges, making them safer for drivers and pedestrians while reducing congestion in heavy traffic areas.
Protecting
Communities
Jennifer directed new investments in public transportation for seniors and people with disabilities, rental assistance for low-income families to help keep them in their home, services to support abused children and protections for neglected dogs and cats.
Jennifer has also directed cannabis tax revenue to support residents in targeted communities. This funding provides direct support for residents through much-needed social services in communities that have been negatively impacted by violence, excessive incarceration, and economic disinvestment.
Helping Will Go Green
Going green saves taxpayer dollars and reduces our footprint on the environment.
Under Jennifer’s leadership, the county is supporting the expanding green economy through business tax credits for green building construction and area developments of wind, solar and battery farms.
Jennifer also oversaw the construction of the county’s renewable natural gas plant at the Prairie View Landfill, which is turning trash into renewable fuel, creating a new revenue stream for the county while recycling harmful excess gas from trash.
Jennifer spearheaded an Alternative Fuel Readiness Plan to help ensure Will County communities are well-prepared for vehicles powered by alternative fuels and to help maintain our economic competitiveness and improve local air quality.
Disrupting Housing Insecurity
To provide families relief in their time of need, Jennifer helped create Will County’s first eviction diversion program. The program provides rental and mortgage assistance for low-income families to keep them in their homes.
To help make the dream of home ownership a reality for all Will County families, Jennifer also helped create the Downpayment Assistance Program for first-time homebuyers needing help with initial, upfront costs.
Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant
for Will County Executive
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