Mark Davoust: 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: St. CharlesWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Kane County Board District 14Age: 52Family: Married for 30 years to Wife, Melody. Son, Brian; 4 grandchildren.Occupation: Vice President, Brasel Products, Inc. Kane County Board Commissioner Kane County Forest Preserve Commissioner Kane County Liquor CommissionerEducation: Western Illinois University Waubonsee Community College - Associates Degree Aurora UniversityCivic involvement: National Federation of Independent Business Illinois Manufacturer's Association National Safety Council National Association of Music Merchants St. Charles Township Republicans - precinct committeeman Past Director - Kane County Bar FoundationElected offices held: Kane County Board Commissioner, District 14 Kane County Forest Preserve CommissionerHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To continue to offer the fine services that have made Kane County a wonderful place to live and raise a family while staying within our budget.Key Issue 2 To do my best to foster an atmosphere of communication and cooperation on the Kane County Board.Key Issue 3 Working on the Judicial/Public Safety Technology Commission to ensure that the Kane County Court System gets the computer system that truly addresses the needs of all the various stake-holders involved.Questions Answers Do you support a more stringent ethics ordinance for Kane County governing the conduct of elected officials and county employees' Why or why not? If so, what should the ordinance contain?During my time as chairman of the Human Services Committee, we produced and enacted an ethics ordinance that asked for employees and elected officials to all be included within it's parameters.We worked with the States Attorney's office to produce this ordinance.With that ordinance now in question as to it's enforceability as to elected officials, I continue to believe that both elected officals and employees should be held to the same high standard of ethical conduct and transparency.The county's portion of gambling proceeds has been decreasing every year for several years. What is your plan to prioritize use of that money? What might be done to wean the agencies and programs that receive this money off of it?We currently have a very effective set of standards in place for the allocation of these scarce resources.There is really no need to change the method in which these priorities are calculated.There is also no shortage of fine organizations and causes that are deserving of these funds.Sadly, the truth is that we will not be able to help as many of these groups as we were able to help in the past due to the decline in revenue.Do you believe the Kane County court system needs a computer system upgrade that might cost as much as $12.6 million? If so, do you support using RTA sales tax money to fund the cost, or do you have a different plan? If not, what is your alternative plan?Yes.Kane County government is primarily a service industry and with the limitations of the present JANUS system, we simply cannot deliver the services that the public is entitled to receive.RTA sales tax money should be considered as one of the possible funding sources for a new computer system.This fund was designed to provide funds for public safety needs in addition to transportation demands.The technology commission will bring all major stake-holders together so that there will be a combined, cooperative effort to help fund the urgently needed system.Do you believe county board members and the chairman should receive health insurance and pension benefits' If you are running for one of those positions, do you plan on accepting those benefits' Why or why not?I am running for County Board District 14 and plan to accept insurance and pension benefits as a part of my compensation package.These benefits are not provided without cost to Board Members and given the amount of time required of this position, I feel that accepting benefits is appropriate.How do you resolve the ongoing debate over the county board setting budgets for departments run by other elected officials whom the county board has no control over? How should the county board enforce the budgets it sets'Therein lies the fundamental problem between the County Board and other elected officials.The County Board does not control the budgets of elected officials although we review and approve those budgets.Until such time as some other decision is made, the Board enforces budget constraints in the only manner it can; refusing to fund those requests for budgets in excess of approved amounts.Ultimately, I would like to see the Courts take up the issue of the Internal Control Statute and give the Board a definitive answer on who controls the final say on budget requests.In the alternative, we could ask elected officials to agree to each be responsible for his or her own portion of the tax levy required to fund his or her budget.