2012 Primary Election Profile: Todd Milliron

Address: 61 Cotswold Drive, Yorkville, IL. 60560
Campaign contact information:  http://www.todd4kendall.org; Phone Number = 630-553-9590     
Age: 55
Family: Married 23 years to Pam Milliron, 3 children, Nicole 21, Amber 18 and Christian 15
Education:  BS in Political Science from Kansas State University, Self- Employed Sole proprietor in the insurance business, employed as an Independent Insurance Agent since March 1987 as service man, not a salesman.

Previous elected or appointed positions: 

None, I have been in regular attendance at Kendall County Board meetings since late 2006, Attended KCB Citizens Solid Waste Advisory Committee Meeting for drafting the current 5-year Plan.  KCB would not appoint me to that panel, but I was welcomed with open arms by the citizens that were appointed.  Over the next 12 months, a forward looking solid waste plan was drafted that embraced new technologies and other ideas for waste disposal.  Landfills were banned from Kendall County by that 5-year plan.  I have been the Citizen’s KCB Watch Dog for the past 5 years, which is something the current KCB and Sheriff do not like or embrace. 

1)     What can you do to foster economic development in Kendall County? What level of cooperation do you think is necessary with municipalities to accomplish this? 

KCB Economic Development Chairman Dan Koukol has had little to work with, yet is actively promoting Kendall County.  Other Counties have a dedicated employee whose sole job is to promote and highlight the things that their county can offer new businesses to locate in their locals.  Currently there is little or no coordination between the four municipalities Economic Development Corporations/Dept. or their Directors with Kendall County.  Our current KCB’s effort is minimal at best.  There are tools in the EDC’s tool box that are not currently being publicized or utilized, we can do better.  Funding for this EDC effort was increased from $5000 in FY2010-11 to the present $15,000 in this year’s KCB 2011-2012 Budget.    Someone needs to be a fulltime promotional person and make the start to coordinate with our four city friends EDC efforts.  We have county tax incentives and county loan funds available already to create more jobs in our county, the problem is no one is consistently selling our county or telling the outside business community we have these tools in the EDC tool box for them to use.  It is an area where I think we can do better than the current KCB’s effort. 

2)     Would you support a 0.75 percent RTA sales tax to locate a Metra stop in Kendall County?

I support putting a referendum on the ballot to see if this is something Kendall County Voters collectively, by majority vote, want to pay for. There are many benefits to public transportation.  Presently Kendall Area Transit (KAT) has significant Senior Rider usage and they value that independence to get around.

Public information seminars should be conducted throughout this county by the Regional Transportation Authority at locations and times that are convenient for the citizens of this county, with some held on weekends too. Voters then would be able to give an informed response at the ballot box.   If that RTA Referendum fails; County Voters say NO to a RTA tax, we can stop thinking and planning for county rail mass transit, devoting our limited resources towards completing roadway transportation corridors like the North-South Wikaduke Trail, which presently has some 4 lane segments in place. 

3)     What lessons did you draw from the dog bite incident and its aftermath?

Proper Record Keeping was virtually non-existent, followed by a lack of adequate policy. What policies they had in place were not enforced.  There was no KCB supervision, oversight or review by Anne Vickery, Susan Petrella and Nancy Martin, the members of the KCB Animal Control Committee entrusted with that duty.  For years, Pleas from volunteers and willing financial/pet food contributors from within the animal rescue community were ignored.  Now we have a lawsuit filed against the County.

Do you think the changes the county has made at Animal Control are adequate?

A qualified director for animal control has now been hired who is not some KCB’s extended family member, as was the case with the prior KCAC director. Volunteers are now embraced.  New policies have been put in place and record keeping has been tightened up.  Other than the lawsuit filed, we are now on track to protect the public from dangerous animals and provide good environment for animals that are uncared for.

4)     Do you think the redistricting process was fair for people who live in the county’s larger municipalities?

No, the 2012 Two-District Reapportionment Plan unfairly diluted municipal resident interests and also may have disenfranchised minority populations within certain areas of the county.  I question whether KCB Resolution 11-19 (Reapportionment Plan for Kendall County) it is even a binding legal document because what was voted on June 7, 2011 was rushed, incomplete and did not possess legal boundary descriptions as required by law, nor was that document ever date stamped for when it was finally completed.  I presented a 5-district plan (still 10 KCB members) proposal that gave the cities equal and proportional representation, it was ignored.

5)     Aside from the issues discussed above, what issue or problem do you think the county board should address, and what action would you take if elected/re-elected?

I would open up Kendall County Government make it more Citizen Friendly and more Transparent.  Currently the County has the technology and the software to put the KCB recorded meeting audio on the county website.  It is something they talked about doing in May 2010 and have yet to do.

We can put the Kendall County Check-Book online so you, the voter, can see each month how your tax dollars are being spent. It is something I proposed on several occasions and even went so far as to provide the source for free software to accomplish this goal to the current Kendall County Board on 12-1-2009. To date, that idea has been ignored for posting County Bills, Invoices, Credit Card Statements and Checks.

I would like to revise the Kendall County Technology Ordinance to address the flawed current policy that allows for ONLY a 30-day timeframe of retention of County E-mails. For comparison, our neighbor to the north, Kane County, has a 7-YEAR retention policy for emails.

Last, I would allow the Veteran’s Commission of Kendall County to do their job and make sure they have adequate funding, Recently, the KCB forced the KCVAC Board to cut Friday’s Transport to Hines VA Hospital, our Vets deserve 5-day a week service, especially those Vets who are on Dialysis.  It won’t be long before the KCVAC needs a new Van, the one they have is 7 years old and it will need to be replaced soon.    

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