Sharon Vish, 6 years: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: LombardWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lombard Park District, 6-year termAge: 38Family: Married, 2 childrenOccupation: Formerly sales manager, currently stay at home momEducation: College of Dupage, ManagementCivic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: noCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Lombard Park District is one of the top park districts in the nation. I want to ensure continued growth in what we can offer our residents through updated facilities and programs.Key Issue 2 The Park District has great programs available to its residents of all ages. There is a lot of talk about the country's childhood obesity issue. We need to continue to find ways to engage the youth in extracurricular activities to keep them healthy and fit.Key Issue 3 The Park District has worked hard to be fiscally responsible. I will work with staff and fellow commisioners to ensure we maintain a balanced budget.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?The Park District offers free events throughout the year (ex. winter carnival, boo bash, movies in the park). These events are great social events for the community and although they don't pay for themselves, they are key to making Lombard a great city for families. I wouldn't change the programs and hope we can build on them to get more residents involved.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.The Park District currently has many parks and ample space for its current facilities and programs.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?The Park District has rebuilt and updated many of its current facilities in order to offer the residents more, (Ex. Pool, Sunset Knoll improvements, Skate park). We are still lacking facilities for many of our programs and we have to share resources to offer them to our residents. The Park District received the OSLAD Grant to fund the updates to Sunset Knoll. We should continue to persue outside funding opportunities to ensure we can continue to offer residents updated facilities.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?The Park District currently pools resources with local villages on several of their programs. They also partner with the schools for use of their facilities to offer other programs. I believe this is a best practice to ensure we can offer residents programs that our current facilities cannot house.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.I grew up in Villa Park and have lived in Lombard for five years now. I think Lombard is a great family friendly town. Whenever you meet someone, they know someone else you know. I have two children that participate in Park district programs and we love the parks and facilities as well. I am running for park board because I feel that being a parent with children participating in Park District programs, I can represent other parents like myself. I want to ensure the park district continues to offer great opportunities for all families to enhance their quality of life.