Mark Symonds: 2024 Candidate For Lake County Coroner

LAKE COUNTY, IL — Election Day is fast-approaching, and early voting is underway in Lake County. Here is the candidate profile for Mark Symonds, who is running for Lake County Coroner:

Town of Residence: Highland Park

Position Sought: Lake County Coroner

Party Affiliation: Republican

Family: Wife (Deborah) and 5 Adult Children. Elizabeth, Mark, Rebecca, Penelope, and Luke. Mark and Luke are in the Army Reserves and Mark & Penelope are Licensed Funeral Directors. All of our children were raised to be active members of their community and each continue to actively serve their local communities.

Education: Degree from Chicago City Colleges in Mortuary Science

Occupation: 30+ years as a Funeral Director & small business owner.

Previous or current elected or appointed office: No previous political position. Current co-owner of Symonds Funeral Home

Campaign website: www.MarkSymonds4Coroner.com

The single most pressing issue facing our county is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Illegal Drugs/Crimes: By conducting accurate & thorough death investigations, I will be able to work closely with the police and prosecutors to identify illegal drugs that contributed to a death and to help keep our streets safe. By promoting an informed community - together we can learn from tragedies and work together to prevent avoidable deaths in our community.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I have been a funeral director for over 30 years. We both have educational and occupational backgrounds that contribute to the Office of Coroner. Personally, I grew up living above a funeral home. I have always lived and worked in the field of death and dying. This gives me a unique perspective of the integration of the clinical & clerical side of death investigations with the personal side as well. My background allows me to seamlessly connect fieldwork with the compassion & excellence that everyone involved needs.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

I believe that the question should not be how the current coroner has failed the community. Rather, it should be, does the individual currently in office, give the community the very best that it needs?

Remember, the office of coroner not only determines the identity of a sudden death, but the coroner also has to coordinate with law enforcement and other government officials while being certain that everyone involved understand how & why someone has dies. This communication includes law enforcement and fellow staff, to loved ones and even to criminals. Being visible in the community and transparent in the office are critical components of the office of the coroner. Community engagement, having critical conversations with compassion, and providing accurate and timely investigations are areas that need improvement.

I believe that the community can learn from tragedies, honor lives lived and build a safer community when the office of the coroner is committed to the highest standards of integrity, transparency and service.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Every life tells a story. I am dedicated to honoring lives with accurate and thorough death investigations, optimizing resources, and promoting community education to prevent avoidable deaths. I will fight for data modernization that creates modern, integrated, real-time data that increases accuracy while decreasing the length of time that an inquest can take. We need sustainable systems that help to anticipate and solve problems before those problems even arise. We need sustainable systems that help to anticipate and solve the problems that can arise in an inquest before those problems arise.

If you gain this position, what accomplishment would define your term in office as a success?

I would consider my service as a success when lives are honored, sustainable systems are implemented, and the community is working together to help prevent avoidable deaths.

Why are you running for office?

I did not seek a political office. Rather, this office sought me. As I have state, I grew up living above a funeral home - learning from a very early age that death occurs at the least opportune moments yet requires accuracy, professionalism, communication, and compassion with everyone involved. After moving from the City to Lake County, funeral directors, retired police officers, retired fire fighters and even previous coroners started coming to me and asking me when I was going to run for coroner. People began reaching out and telling me that they believed I was uniquely qualified to projective and unbiased conclusions in death investigations. As a funeral director for my entire working career, I have been to countless death scenes and have worked tirelessly to give families compassionate care in their most vulnerable moments, as they grieve an unexpected death. After collaborating with friends, families, and those in elected positions, running for the Office of the Coroner not only seemed like a next logical step for me personally, but it would increase my ability to serve the community with transparency, integrity, abilities, and compassion. It would be an honor to serve Lake County in the role of coroner, and I appreciate your vote on 11/5/2024.

What questions should be asked of current government employees accountable to your board?

Those who are accountable to the Office of Coroner, or any government employee, should have not only be able to demonstrate transparency, integrity and a strong work ethic, but they should consider if they are pursuing the position for gain power and prestige or to serve the community. Government employees should be pursuing a career to serve the community and to work together to build a safer tomorrow, not for personal power or prestige.

Explain your attitudes toward fiscal policy, government spending and how taxpayer dollars should be handled by your office?

The Office of the Coroner should have sustainable systems that help to anticipate and solve problems before they arise. The systems should include data modernization that integrates real time data across the offices to increase the accuracy of death investigations and to decrease the length of time that an investigation takes. Modern equipment and training of all personnel can help to produce objective and unbiased conclusions that will strengthen the community. Whether the resources are fiscal, human, equipment of even animals that help with investigations, the resources must be within budget and make sense for building a safer future together. I realize that expenses must be approved by the committee and as a small business owner, I understand having to work with what you have. Government spending should be used to help build our community and keep our citizens safe. It should not be used to promote a personal or political agenda. Fiscal spending should be approved as it promotes thorough and accurate death investigations, promotes community education and builds a safer tomorrow.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am a people person. I believe in serving my community and my life's work as a funeral director is testament to service. I believe that every life tells a story, and I am dedicated to honoring life with accurate & thorough death investigations. I will optimize resources while providing community education to help prevent avoidable deaths. I will be transparent and serve with transparency while I will be visible to community. Although a coroner deals with death, I am committed to building a safer community and future together.

Do you think Illinois’s SAFE-T act/no cash bail has been effective?

Although having cash bail and pretrial detention posed a burden for many defendants while allowing those with access to funds to post bail, there are many valid concerns that the SAFE-T act is not excessively clear. Having a risk assessment system that mitigates unfairness is a very noble goal, yet it is a goal that should not pose a risk to public safety. It will be interesting to see the actual effects of the policy as more reports continue to come out. The statistics on every aspect of this will be different in each county and are stats that are critical for each county to fully understand. We want a safer society and also one that is not cumbersome to some who are detained and not others. I look forward to reading more reports as they come out and making an informed opinion as to its effectiveness.

Do you think state taxpayer money should be provided to ease the migrant crisis?

The migrant crisis is just that: a crisis. While our own citizens are struggling to buy groceries, put gas in their car, pay for higher education, and pay for medical care & medications, is difficult to take tax money for the "migrant crisis". A valid question to ask is, does using our taxpayer money actually ease the crisis? There is a fine line of using our taxes to mitigate the crisis that national policies have helped to create. Every life tells a story - even the stories of those who have entered our country without following our policies. Those lives are precious - yet if we use taxpayer money to pay for the migrant crisis, what is left to continue to support them once they become citizens? Should our taxpayer money support illegal immigration: no. Should our taxpayer money be used to support immigration that follows our countries and state laws: yes. Should the majority of our taxpayer money be used for our citizens: yes. Should a small portion of our taxpayer money be used to support others: absolutely.

Should municipalities adopt restrictions on unscheduled bus drop-offs?

Each county needs to develop rules and regulations that promote the safety and welfare of their community. The unscheduled bus drop-offs put a strain on the local communities, yet the states where those people originated from also have a public health crisis. There needs to be resolutions that address this problem for the country as whole.