Why I Am Running for the County Board

1.  Government does not have a revenue shortage.  It has a spending problem.  The taxpayers understand this, but many people in government do not.  That needs to change.   In Kendall County we can start by getting the county government out of the horse farm and banquet hall businesses.

2.  We need greater transparency in government.  One way we can achieve this is to put all county expenditures online in real time.  This will allow taxpayers to see what their county government is spending.  They will then be able to object to questionable items before large amounts of money can be wasted.  Just knowing that expenditures can be viewed by taxpayers will serve as a strong deterrent to wasteful spending.

3.  The new County Board needs to conduct a forensic audit.  This will enable the Board to  learn how money is being spent and services delivered.  With that information in hand, it will be possible to implement procedures and policies that will enable the county to deliver services in the most cost effective way.

4.  We must aggressively pursue economic development.  Even with Springfield pulling in the opposite direction, we must do what we can to bring jobs and economic growth to Kendall County.  Every decision by the county government should be viewed with an eye toward the impact on the county’s economic climate.

5.  When the County Board as we now know it came into existence in 1972, we were a primarily rural county.  Since then, we have shifted to being primarily urban/suburban.  Four-fifths of the current board members live in rural parts of the county, leaving the urban residents seriously underrepresented.

Between now and March 20th , I will cover each of these points in more detail.