George Weinert: 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: GrayslakeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Grayslake Park Board (4-year Terms)Age: 51Family: Wife and three chidrenOccupation: Program ManagerEducation: BS in Secondary EducationCivic involvement: Currently commisioner for Grayslake Park DistrictElected offices held: Park District CommisionerHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continue to offer recreational activities to the community that are revevent and a great return on investment.Key Issue 2 Ensure that the tax dollars we receive from the community are well spent, and that the park district remains very fiscally responsible.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?Overall we manage our programs to pay for themselves, and we work hard to understand the total cost of a program to make sure we don't run deficit programs. There are some programs where we feel the benefit to the community outweighs the accounting side of the program. A good example is the family picnic held in the summer, while the park district does not make a profit on the event we feel that bringing the community together for food, music and fireworks is a worthwhile event. By working with the village, offering sponsorships, and ride vendors we have actually been able to cover a significant amount of the cost of the event.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.I think everyone would agree that open space is a great asset to a community, when I joined the board we had around 280 acres of open space today we have over 400. In 2004 the park district passed a referendum allowing us to purchase 40 acres of open space on Allegany road, as part of the agreement we acquired and addition 55 acres as a donation from the land owner. There is one remaining large open area in Grayslake that the park district went to referendum to acquire in 2009. The referendum was unsuccessful but we feel that the community would benefit if the park district was in a position to acquire the land. We are currently conducting a community needs assessment survey that among many topics will address community support for acquiring additional open space.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 does a great job in providing core recreational needs for the community. We are constantly tweaking the programs we offer to meet changing recreational activities. While I have been on the board we have gone from 47 different recreation classes offered per season to over 250, we added a 9-hole golf course, and we have joined the Special Recreation Association of Central Lake County. Central park in the heart of the village has been developed into one of the counties premiere mixed use parks, with baseball, soft ball, football/soccer fields fishing pier, splash pad, disk golf, and walking/biking trail. As the demographic of the community changes we will adjust our programing to meet the need. We periodically go out to the community with a survey to validate we are offering the correct balance of programs.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?Currently the Park District partners with other agency's in an effort to share resources. We work with the school districts to use gym space on weekends and week day nights when the schools are not using them. The schools use the parks for many activities during school days, making additional fitness programs available to many of their students.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.When I joined the board we had around 280 acres of land today we have over 400, including a golf course and many neighborhood parks in Grayslake and Hainsville. The development of Central park has been a great accomplishment, we added, splash pad and playground, restrooms, concession building, disk golf, two lighted ball fields, and lighted football/soccer field, performance pavilion, fishing pier, nature trail, all next to the aquatic center and Skate Park. With the development of Central Park and Allegany park and our partnership with many of the local youth sports affiliate groups we have reduced the pressure on many of the small neighborhood parks that in the past were used as practice facilities, creating parking issues in the neighborhoods.