Brent Paxton: 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: ZionWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lake County board District 4Age: 49Family: Married 16 years to Kathy. 3 children. Sam, Zach, ZoeOccupation: Chiropractic PhysicianEducation: Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.), National College of Chiropractic, 1987Civic involvement: Crew board member, Jubulee Days committee, ZCAP chairmanElected offices held: Lake County Board and Forest Preserve Board, 2000 - presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continuing to ensure that County Government stays fiscally responsible with all of our decisions. Focusing on funding our core (state or federally mandated) responsibility in the most financially efficient manner.Key Issue 2 Creating an environment in the County that makes it more desireable for new businesses to locate here. Doing what we can for existing business to stay here. Using whatever tools the County can to allow the job creators' to create jobs in Lake County.Key Issue 3 Roads and infrastructure improvement and expansion. Making it easier for traffic to move around will be good for business and good for the County. Maintaining roads and adding lanes when possible creates better efficiencies for anyone trying to move around the County. Roads and transportation is one of the County's core missions, so we need to make sure this gets funded adequately.Questions Answers Now that golf at Fort Sheridan is a dead issue, what types of amenities should be added to the site?The Fort Sheridan preserve is located on such a great site on the lakefront. I would like to see real usage of the lake incorporated into the design. An actual beach for swimming, maybe a small boat launch for canoes/kayaks, etc. I would also like to see some sort of other recreational opportunities given in that area. Maybe even a disc golf course. We've got a clean slate at Fort Sheridan, the possibilities are endless.What, if any, new ethics-related rules are needed for the county board and county staff?The County just recently reviewed and tightened our ethics ordinances. And I know that we are constantly monitoring and changing the ordinance when appropriate. I think the current ethics rules that we have are strict enough, but encourage changing them as we need to. The County has been fairly proactive regarding this issue.Government transparency has been an important issue in recent years. Name one thing the county government or forest preserve district should do to improve transparency.The County has consistently received the "Sunshine Award" for our transparency. The County is also regularly scoring 7 - 8 out of 10 for our transparency. So I think the County does a good job of being as transparent as possible. However, there is alwsys room for improvement. We need to make some information on our website a little easier to find. And we are in the process of adding more information for the public as well. So I guess continuing to monitor our websites to make sure information can be accessed easily.Should the forest district use eminent domain to acquire the land needed for the final link in the Des Plaines River Trail? Why or why not? If your answer is no, how should officials go about acquiring that land sooner than later?I would not be infavor of using eminent domain. The Forest Preserve has been successful in purchasing land needed to complete trail links in the past, and I think those types of agreements can be reached in the future. Some times those agreements do take time, but I think that is the right way to go about it.What will be the biggest issue facing the county over the next decade, and how do you propose dealing with it?Housing issues in general. It seems that "housing" drives everything. Affordable houses can be found throughout the County, but credit restrictions may not allow homeownership. And once a home does get purchased (or for existing homeowners), the real estate taxes may not allow the family to stay there. So it is a way more complex problem than just one solution. The County has, or funds many programs that help with homeownership. I would continue funding housing solutions that work, I also think the County needs to do a better job of educating the public about property tax bills. For example, the County Government portion of a persons property tax bill is only about 5% in my district (not everyone knows this). The schools on the other hand make up about 75-80%. And that is because the State doesn't fund the schools adequately. So just one answer is not the solution to the overarching problem, it will take multiple changes. So even though County Government is only a small player in the bigger housing picture, I think it is important to make sure that the County does what it can to improve the housing/property tax situation so people can buy homes and then stay in them. It would be great if it could be "fixed" in a decade.