When you become Mayor what happens to your Trustee seat?

I will be able to appoint someone to fill the Trustee seat for the remaining two year term with the approval of the board of Trustees. Here is how the process will work:

I don’t have anyone in mind. It will be an open and fair process. You don’t have to know me or be my political ally to be considered. Mayor is a non partisan position. If you are interested in being a Trustee you would submit your resume. It would also help to say why you want to be a Trustee. I will interview everyone who submits a resume. As Mayor I would make a recommendation to the board and there would be a motion at a village board meeting to appoint the Mayors recommendation. When the motion is approved, the approved Trustee would immediately be sworn in and take their seat as Trustee at that meeting and for the remaining two year term. Keeping in mind there has to be a Mayoral recommendation and an approval by the Board of Trustees to be appointed.

The timing of that basically is as follows. The election is April 1, 2025. The process to confirm the election takes place. The term starts May 1, 2025. However, the new board is not officially sworn in until the first board meeting which is May 12, 2025. Announcements would go out in various formats for interested parties to submit resumes for Trustee. Interviews would take place ASAP and most likely an appointment ideally would be made in a June meeting.

Do you support the arts?

Yes, I absolutely do. I’ve lived in multiple cities in three states. Traveled in almost all of the 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. I’ve traveled in multiple countries. The most successful areas embraced the arts.

Public art has gradually been added throughout the town.

Mundelein has a huge opportunity in the ABC building. (Archer Business Center where Tighthead is). The ABC building is owned by the village and can provide both revenue generating and artistic opportunities. Tighthead leases space, office space is leased, the North Central O Gaugers Model trains are displayed here, Lure of the Local art exhibition was here this year.

The space in this building could be utilized for more revenue and public entertainment opportunities. The possibilities for the ABC building are endless. A few examples: It could grow into a theater space, convention and/or convention vendor space, meeting space, art exhibitions and displays, temporary workshops, indoor winter farmers market, indoor music venues or shows, indoor craft show, wedding or events, receptions, catering could be brought in and eventually a catering kitchen could be added.

This would not happen overnight. It would take public support and support from your elected officials. The ABC building is a valuable and under used village property with excellent nearby parking, and opportunities to expand into many areas of the arts.

What about small businesses, entrepreneurs?

• I know how important it is for our new businesses and our entrepreneurs to be able to get their business started quickly.

• I will work with the village to keep our permit and license process simple, affordable, and easy.

• New business announcements are a great way get the word out. I know that continual support (in a variety of ways) is important to keep our businesses viable.

• I will work on what we need to do to attract new businesses to Mundelein.

• I want to know why a business shuts down or relocates outside of Mundelein. Successfully preventing our businesses from closing or leaving our town is important.

• Keeping communication lines open between businesses and the village helps to understand the ongoing needs of the business and is vital.

• We have many home business entrepreneurs which don’t have a brick and mortar storefronts that need to be recognized by the village. I will reach out to them to determine their specific needs and how I can help them.

• Maintenance of the areas surrounding our businesses is necessary.

  • Is the area attractive to customers? Do customers feel safe? Is there adequate parking in the area? Is the business easily accessible?

• Are there vacancies in the area? 

  • If so, how are those vacancies maintained? A vacant storefront can be maintained in a way that doesn’t detract from other area businesses.

• Understanding what hurts or helps our businesses is crucial.

  • Do our Mundelein business owners feel heard?  Do our business owners feel they are getting the support they need?

These are all questions that I will address with the Mundelein business owners.

Bottom line is that too many politicians tell you what they are going to do in election time and it seldom happens once they are elected.

I want to hear what you, our businesses need, and then I can work with you to start here, star here, and most importantly stay here in Mundelein.

What is your position on putting ATM’s back in businesses that have gaming?

As Mayor I am open to revisiting the subject after the election. I would prefer to revist and have discussions on the policy decision vs. receiving variations from individual businesses. Without addressing the entire policy there may be discrepancies between what some businesses can do vs. others.

Are you going to keep the monthly coffee with the Mayor?

I’m going to do better than that on finding more opportunities for get together’s.

It is my intention to move forward with the coffee with the Mayor.

However, not everyone can attend Saturday mornings for a variety of reasons. I would like to find alternative options for a casual meet and greet question and answer opportunity on other days, evenings, times, venues to allow more people to take the opportunity to ask the mayor questions and discuss issues of importance to them.

I don’t know how that looks yet, but I will be exploring this soon after I become Mayor.

If you have ideas for days, times, or venues, let me know what works for you! Sorry guys, no adult beverages.

Why don’t you have a donation button on your website?

• My campaign is a grassroots campaign.

• It’s self funded, I made and paid for my own website, I’m reusing my campaign signs, I have business cards, Facebook page, and informally meet with people and groups, etc.

• I don’t look for large donations from corporations, groups, or people who may expect concessions later.

• I’m fiscally responsible and have spent very little for campaign promotion.

• I believe in working for you with real information, not the normal glitzy campaign promotional material that says little.

What is your relationship with the other trustees/board members? We heard that this relationship is important to get things done.

I’m very excited to start the new term in May as Mayor. We will have 3 new trustees, one fairly new trustee, 2 incumbant trustees, and an incumbant clerk. It’s very important to have a cooperative relationship with all. The leadership determines the direction this cooperation takes. This is extremely important to me.

All steps are vital and will be worked on at the same time.

Step one: Ensure that the new trustess have the proper impartial training to serve Mundelein as Trustee.

Step two: Foster an environment where discussion and questions are encouraged at village board meetings. It’s not healthy for Mundelein or the community when there is a contest for how quickly can we end the village board meeting and beat the record for the shortest meeting. Questions and discussions should mostly be held in the public village board meeting so that everyone can hear the question/discussion at the same time and get the same information vs individual conversations held behind the scenes prior to the public meeting.

Step three: Foster an environment where differences of opinion is both acceptable and encouraged. That is how we learn and make better decisions. Learning how to express differences of opinions without making an issue personal is important. Listening to others, thinking about their perspective, and a willingness to reach a compromise incorporating multiple perspectives will allow the board to make decisions that better reflect the population and Mundelein as a whole.

We have to remember we are a diverse community with many differences and many things in common. Acknowledging that we have different perspectives and having a board that represents our differences is vital. A board that can acknowledge, discuss the differences, and reach a common or compromised decision is paramount. The ability to disagree publicly in a respectful and polite manner and then walk out of the board room as a mutual and respectful community member is the goal I strive for.

Why do you want to be Mayor?

There are too many reasons to list.  However, I’ve been a trustee for a long time.  I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work and things we could have done better.  I know we have to think and plan differently for the things that haven’t worked in the past and strengthen the things that do work.  Mundelein was impacted by Covid and we need to account for those changes and impacts in how we successfully move forward with that new knowledge.

As a trustee I’ve seen the same problems exist for many years that have not been resolved.  I’m looking at different solutions for those plans and I’m excited to start implementing them.

While I’ve seen many communication improvements, I want to further improve the lines of communication between the Mayor, businesses, residents, and other taxing bodies.

What will you do about vacancies?

I’ve also covered vacancies in the hot topic and priorities pages on the website.

The numbers say the vacancy rate is low, however, the perception is different. We are told that vacancies are good, as there is available space for businesses to move in to.

Numbers reported at the Mayors State of the Village Address:

Overall occupancy: 89%

Commercial space occupied: 88%

Downtown: 82% occupied

Industrial: 92% occupied

The reason for the difference in numbers vs. perception is that the buildings that are vacant have been vacant for a long time or are large enough to be very noticeable. The “old Walgreens” (behind the Starbucks on 45), the old village hall location (across from the post office), the CVS locations, and the vacant banks on Seymour to name a few.

Imploring property owner or property managers doesn’t seem to be solving the vacancy problem of these buildings. We need to take other steps to encourage occupancy.

No one wants to hurt property owners having a hard time finding tenants. Many wonder about the long term vacancies. People ask how many of those are not interested in tenants, and question if they are getting tax write offs or asking unreasonable rents? I’m asked that all the time. I do not know the answers, or the reasons they can’t get tenants.

To tackle this problem I would propose a vacant property registration for the following reasons: To keep the property safe, looking attractive, and up to code.

Everyone should want a property to look attractive and not diminish the appearance of the surrounding businesses. Vacant storefronts have the potential to harm nearby businesses if the vacant property looks unsafe or uncared for.

I want to ensure that hazardous or other unsafe materials are not stored there creating a fire hazard, which could also damage surrounding businesses.

I want the space to be up to code for multiple reasons. Plus a space that meets current codes makes it more attractive to a future tenant.

Registering a vacant property says the village cares, wants the buildings safe, and occupied. Registration is a first step and hopefully the only step that is needed.

When you vote NO on a tax raise, rate hike, or fee raise, why don’t you come to the meeting with an alternate plan?

That is not the time or place to discuss or rehash a new revenue plan. The time to discuss a revenue new plan is in a strategic planning session, in a meeting with staff or the mayor, a committee of the whole meeting where you can discuss the pros and cons of how that would work. Not when you’re voting on the final outcome of the tax, fee, or rate hike. By then it’s already too late, this is decision time not planning time. After the packet comes out you can contact staff to have discussions and ask questions to understand the information in the packet, not to change the information, motions, and options in the packet. If I vote no, I already understand the options or motions, I don’t agree with the option the board selected.

Remember, the board member packet comes out to board members typically some time on Thursday and occasionally not until Friday to board members. Friday to the public. The board is not aware of what the options will be until the packet comes out for review. The information for a tax levy is extensive and there is a lot research and information that goes into it from extensive work by staff, with approval of the mayor and village administrator. A board member doesn’t just quickly crunch out a new plan with new numbers, nor do they get the finance director to crunch out new numbers in a matter or days or hours without approval of the mayor or village administrator. You also don’t come up with new revenue generating ideas that can be approved, and that would change the tax levy in a matter of hours even with the approval of the mayor, board, and/or village administrator.

This does also not mean to imply that there is never a change at a board meeting. Some discussions held between a trustee and staff after the packet came out and before the meeting could result in meeting discussion and a potential change. Sometimes during a meeting a discussion could take place, and staff would have time to take that information back, recalculate and come to the next meeting with new figures for discussion (not usually the case for a tax levy discussion). There are situations where a minor change can be made at the meeting and agreed to. Those are generally discussions of a lesser magnitude than a tax levy.

I’ve discussed some new revenue ideas that previously haven’t come into consideration. One of the reasons I’ve run for mayor is to bring those ideas to the table for real exploration and discussion before they on the agenda for approval.

McKinley Ave. has been in bad shape for years, will you fix McKinley Ave.?

McKinley Ave. is a very large, complex, and expensive project. So in my opinion it has to be looked at differently than we have been. Instead of trying to do the entire project at once, I would break it up into more manageable smaller projects. I have suggested to the village that we could start with reconstruction from James going east to Carmel High School and do that section of McKinley Ave. first. That area is primarily residential, not as wide and seems a logical place to start. Financially it is more manageable, would move at least a part of the project up to be completed sooner. There isn’t or shouldn’t be any construction traffic in that area to cause damage after reconstruction. Completing that portion also makes the rest of McKinley Ave. more manageable for future phases.