Village Council Forum: Question 3

John Page
I think what I bring to the council is in innovation and leadership. In my ability to listen. I'm a great team-builder, and that's because I really do believe in collaboration. I believe that if you can partner, and you can collaborate, and you don't have agendas...

I don't come into this campaign with all of the answers. I come into this campaign willing to listen, and making decisions based upon facts. I think that's what we need to be able to do. We need to be able to overcome problems, and we need to be able to do it based on current circumstances, not a plan that's two generations old, not a plan that is yet to be determined, but based on what we find today, and what we, as a village, say is important to us.

Gregory Hosé
The first thing that I believe that I bring to the Village Council is an ability to listen and to listen carefully and critically. As an attorney, it's my job to listen to my clients, listen to opposing counsel, and their clients, and listen carefully to determine what issues are in play. And I hope to use this on the Village Council by listening to residents, asking the right questions to drill to the heart of an issue.

And, then once I have that determined, we can bring that back to the council and really think critically about it and build a coalition around the right, most effective and efficient solution. I've done this as a member of the St. Joseph's Parish Council, which operates on a consensus model, and I've done this as a member of the Environmental Concerns Commission here in Downers Grove. And I look forward to doing that, building consensus and listening critically as a member of the village council

Becky Rheintgen
The specific contributions I can bring to the table is: in my career I had to deal with community groups, and sometimes they were very vocal parent groups. I was in charge of 35 preschool teachers, so I had to work to find consensus, to find solutions, and that was one of my strong points.

I've said before that I'm a careful and thoughtful decision-maker. I'm currently on the Community Events Commission, but when it came to the decision of Heritage Fest to not be offered by the village anymore, those of us that were involved could have been, you know, upset. But instead I and some of the (other members)–Geoff Neustadt was also on that—we rolled up our sleeves and we worked together with the village staff and the commission to find a way for Rotary Fest to happen. 

Dominic Scalzetti
I think some of my contributions would be in my line of work for the almost 32 years. I've dealt with a lot of conflict resolution and I think a lot of times that's all the residents are looking forward. They come to the council meeting and they have a concern and express their concerns and sometimes they think it falls on deaf ears.

You need to be able to communicate with the residents and you need to have common sense and compassion for our residents, because they're the ones that make up our community. We need to work with our residents, listen to our business owners, find out what it is they need, what they desire and see if we can't assist them with that. There's going to be times that we can't accommodate them, but as long as we give them a reason for why we can't do it, I think most of the time you'll find that you’ll be satisfied. 

Mark Thoman
I've made specific contributions. I've helped in the creation of the Comprehensive Plan that is currently in front of the Plan Commission for review, and will go to council later this year.  Last October, I was a resident who chose to respond when the mayor asked for some specific budget ideas. I offered five budget solutions to bridge the shortfall. Council approved, in the 2011 budget document, a couple of items of those ideas, whether they knew it or not.  I've done TIF analysis, met with staff about both the future structure of the Ogden TIF in order to more efficiently use the funds, and I've also talked with staff about the CBD TIF debt problem, and potential solutions and tactics we can use to address the debt and the downtown TIF district. Thank you.

Craig Skala
I'll bring an open mind to the council. I'll evaluate the issues at hand and make my decision based on my research and the way it's presented to me. I'm a good listener and I'll be able to listen to the residents and my fellow councilmen and I'll also be able to represent the average resident in Downers Grove like myself. I'm a middle-class family man.

Geoff Neustadt
The specific contributions I can bring, obviously, being an incumbent you can hit the ground running and continue the work that you’ve done. I've been through four budgets I've been through a lot of the hard decisions this council has made. The actual requirements of being at Coffees with the Council, Tuesday evening meetings, 18 budget meetings. I know how to manage that schedule. I know how to be in the village and be around and available for residents and staff. There are more meetings than a lot of us would care to go to, but we have a lot of work to do as a Village Council member.

I also have a unique perspective as a current municipal employee. In my current day job, I'm president of our local bargaining unit. So, when the village is in contract negotiations and talks, I have a great deal of emphasis and ideas for the council to look at both sides of how a negotiation works. Also, when it comes to communicating with residents and staff, I'm usually very quick to respond via phone or email message. And being in the community every day for my job allows me to talk with residents, and kind of reach throughout the community and see what's happening in the village on a daily basis.

Sean Durkin
The specific contributions I bring are similar to what candidate Neustadt stated as an incumbent—you know, I'm starting off where we left off yesterday. With the five years on the council, I would continue to bring my fiscal innovations, the ability to listen and to ask tough questions. Not just tough questions of the resident asking me the questions so that we can have a good dialogue, but from the staff and a lot of the council members.

The ability to make the tough decisions. I mean, there's many decisions that I have made along with council that have not been popular, but at the end of the day they were the right decision. And then, plus my elected municipal experience are qualifications I bring to the next council.