As a public servant for the past 14 years as a Village Trustee I have work I still want to complete.  I'm running for election as the Village President to be able to accomplish that and more.

I have been working on the Algonquin Downtown revitalization since 2012 and now that we are in the middle stages of construction - with a positive end in sight - I'd like to complete my next step in creating programs and events to bring even more people to our downtown to encourage even more businesses to locate there and do my best to help ensure their success.  One step in doing so is re-creating the outdoor seating for the restaurants in the village to improve on what we put in place last year.

As a conservative accountant, I have been an advocate for balanced budgets and will continue to forge ahead in that area.  We have had a AAA Bond rating for years and I will continue to make sure the residents don't pay more than they have to for services – This past term I demanded we go out for bid on our garbage pickup contract and was successful in getting Groot to reduce their prices for the next contract.  We now have 15% savings on our garbage stickers and containers while still providing the quality service and extras that the village uses garbage pickup for.  I directed staff to place a hold on the water rate increase for November 2020 to aid the citizens in the turbulent financial times we are in.  We developed the financial Resiliency Plan during the Covid epidemic in the 2020-2021 budget mid year to ensure we did not spend more that the reduced income the village received.

With respect to the environment, I have supported all the accomplishments staff has done with best practices.  As a Village Trustee I've supported the changes to the retention areas to go with native plantings to protect the ground water, reduce water runoff and most importantly saving taxpayer money with no more grass cutting in these areas.  As your Village President I am implementing a separate budget line item to ensure we are able to keep these environmental areas in good condition and work to create more with our open space.  This also gives us more transparency on what the costs are at an easier view.

I have been on the Village Board for the past 14 years, focusing on maintaining balanced budgets, maximizing the efficient use of tax dollars and protecting the environment.

My husband of 39 years and I moved our family to Algonquin in 1987.  We raised our three children here and are happy to say one of them has also settled in the village.  I’m an Accounting Manager for Solutions Manufacturing, Inc.

Our children attended D300 schools for their education career:  Lakewood Elementary in Carpentersville, Algonquin Middle School,  my oldest graduated from Jacobs High School and our younger two graduated from Dundee Crown High School.

I was fortunate to be able to volunteer for many years at the schools they attended. I was on many committees at Lakewood Elementary – my favorite was the yearbook, and I served as treasurer on the PTO board for many years.  As my children grew older, I was also on many committees at Algonquin Middle School PTO, including past Secretary and President of that PTO board.  Having children at Jacobs and Dundee Crown at the same time, I chose to only be a part of the School Improvement Team at each high school. I served as Parent Facilitator for the School Improvement Teams – Lakewood Elementary (4 years), Algonquin Middle School (7 years), and Dundee Crown High for 6 years.  I was also a member of the Jacobs High School Improvement team for 4 years.

In addition to school building level volunteering in D-300, I also served on District 300 wide committees: District 300 Communication Council, FACE Committee, DCHS Building Trades Advisory Committee, and the D-300 Foundation for Excellence for 7 years, which I currently rejoined 2 years ago.

As my children grew, I was also an active member of the Cub Scout chairing various troop committees for 6 years and an assistant den leader for 4 years. I also was the Fundraising Chair for the Dundee Junior Charger Football Program and Substitute teacher for St. Margaret Mary Religious Ed.

I am a past member of the Algonquin Economic Development Commission.  I joined the commission the first year it was formed and worked to develop the village plans for our Business Park off Randal Road, the Downtown Revitalization Plans, the Business Retention Visitation Program and the Business Award Program.  As a Plan and Zone Commission member for 4 years prior to being elected to the Village Board, I was able to learn the processes that Algonquin staff needs to go through to get new quality viable businesses and developments in the village.  

 

Going forward I see more Economic Development strengthening our Village’s tax base, completion of the Downtown which will create more people visiting and patronizing our stores and restaurants.  We’ve just won the Fox Valley APWA Award for the Renewing of our Downtown Main Street. 

 

I will:

• Keep the budget balanced

• Continue to support and expand water supply conservation to ensure there is an abundant supply for all generations to come

• Continue to support and encourage communication and transparency policies

• Focus on the economic corridors (East Side, Corporate Campus, Randall Road Corridor) for growth

• Beyond Covid-19 – Embrace the changes we’ve already made to streamlining services, create the environment for citizens to safely attend our activities and events, improve upon the outdoor seating in the downtown area for our restaurants

• Continue to work with all area government bodies encouraging shared services in our departments for greater cost effectiveness

• Continue the fight with Springfield to keep our LDGF funding (approximately $4.5 million yearly) at current levels or get them to change back to 100% funding

 

With the completion of Randall Road construction by the county this year and the completion of the Longmeadow Corridor Roadway traffic improvements that are direly needed will be completed.