Mary Margaret Maule: 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: JohnsburgWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: McHenry County board District 4Age: 48Family: Married to Jack Maule for 25 years. I have three adult children- Aeysha,24, Terrance,22 and Ian 20.Occupation: Business Consultant, Adjunct Instructor for Mchenry County CollegeEducation: BA in History, Old Dominion University MBA, College of William Mary Certified International Business SpecialistCivic involvement: Vice Chairman of Governance Lake McHenry Veteran Family Services Vice Pres of the Board- Court Appointed Special Advocates of McHenry County Illinois Institute of Women in Leadership 2010 Leadership Greater McHenry County- Alumni Womens Interactive Networking Group McHenry (WINGS)Woman of Accomplishment award recipient Johnsburg Athletic Boosters- 2003-2009 Village of Johnsburg Finance Committee 2009-2010Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoneCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Community Economic Development- 75% of the jobs in America are created by small business. As the director of the Small Business Development Center, I saw first hand how jobs can be created with collaboration and an engaged partnership of public and private resources. The county board needs to play an active role in attracting new companies as well as retaining the jobs already in the community.Key Issue 2 Responsible Fiscal Management- There is a prevailing sentiment that good fiscal management means cutting spending, but there is less conversation about whether those cuts will merely task the system somewhere else. Citizens have every reason to expect their resources will be spent wisely with good stewardship and no redundant services.Key Issue 3 Promoting a healthy community- A healthy community goes beyond parks and available health care. It includes affordable housing that allows our children to remain in the community to raise their families, education that is meeting the needs of our areas industries as well as promoting the next generation to college, it is an engaged community that is actively involved in their governance, it involves employment options for skilled laborers, professional, service workers and tradesman. A healthy community does not happen without committed resources and strategic long term planning.Questions Answers McHenry County has managed the recession without a budgetary crisis like those in other counties. How do you ensure the county continues on that path and that reserves aren't depleted? Are there specific budget areas that need more attention?The citizens of Mchenry County have had to make difficult decision as to how they spend their household income and their elected officials have the same responsibilities. Our county can be served by fewer county board members,businesses that benefit from the Bureau of Tourism should support that mission and programs that have overlapping service should be consolidated. Non mandated services should be re-evaluated to access whether they deliver value in alignment with their cost.Does the McHenry County Board have a good transportation improvement plan? Please be specific and suggest whether you think anything is missing or should be scrapped.There is a solid plan to address the aging bridges of our county. McHenry County needs to invest in people movers. There has been very little investment into new roads in the past 50 years. A comprehensive plan for long term sustainable business versus trying to patch our current system that results in merely moving the bottleneck 5 miles down the pike.Does the county need to address its ethics policies' Why or why not? If so, how?We have had numerous incidents of questionable behavior by our elected officals in the recent months. I think that any time headlines include violation of the open meetings act that involve rotating people in and out of the meeting, it is time to clarify expectations to remove any percieved misinterpretation.Ethic policy oaths should be public andthey should be annual. The county needs to have an ethics policy that details the county's committment to best practice and decisions making in everything the organization does, it should be used to guide an organization in all its decisions, sevices,and activites.Assess McHenry County's efforts thus far in terms of groundwater preservation and protection. What needs to be done now and in the future?The county needs to establish a baseline with monitoring wells throughout the county. Proper management of ground water resources is vital to the economy, human health and ecosystems. We need to research the use of groundwater and means of recharging the aquifer. Provide tax incentives for building and landscaping practices that conserve, preserve, protect, recharge and prevent waste of groundwater and control land subsidence by rewarding building practices such as pourous materials in parking areas, etc.Assess how the county health department approached the whooping cough outbreak. What should have been done differently?Education is the best tool to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The use of social media tools, community organizations, faith based communities and service organizations are inexpensive ways to communicate a message and provide the community with the tools to protect themselves. I believe that the county were proactive in preparing the healthcare community but lacked the tools to communicate effectively with the community at large.