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Stephen Fabbri: Candidate Profile

Grayslake Park Board (4-year Terms) (Independent)

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: 52Family: Married, two childrenOccupation: Assistant Director, 19th Judicial Circuit Court, Lake County Adult probation ServicesEducation: B.A. Criminal Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago Master's - Management, Webster UniversityCivic involvement: Past president Grayslake Youth Baseball Association, member National Association of Drug Court ProfessionalsElected offices held: Grayslake Park District CommissionerHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continue to provide good park and program services to a community that has experienced tremendous population growth over the past 20 years. MKey Issue 2 Ensure responsible financial management of taxpayer money. And research the perceptions, expectations and the desires of the community to most effectively plan for the future of the park district and the services we deliver. This is currently being done through a community surveyKey Issue 3 Maintain responsible stewardship of our community's natural assets, including parks, wetlands, ponds, lakes, open space, and Gray's Lake itself.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?Of course, many of our programs services don't always pay for themselves, but we provide such services simply for that purpose, a "public service." For instance, the Fourth of July celebration often loses a small amount of money, but it is an event that adds to the charm and togetherness of the community.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.We would like to purchase open space on the corner of Lake Street and Washington. However,a previous referendum failed a few years ago during the depth of the great recession. I will support another referendum only if our constituents believe it is worth our while. This question is posed on our community survey we are currently conducting. I look forward to see the results to this dedicated question.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?As indicated in the previous question, we hoped to purchase open space at a very bad economic time. If we go forward with another referendum our chances improve with a stable economy. Again, I will only support such a referendum if we get a positive response to the question through our community survey.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?I would love to see a public works facility, and motor fuel facility jointly shared by the park district, school district and village. This would not only save us all money but would make all the districts more efficient at delivering maintenance services.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 have been on the park board since 2000. At that time we had 300 acres of open space. We now have over 420. We passed a $4 million referendum for open space in 2004, the fruits of which are 40 acres at Alleghany Park. We were fortunate to also negotiate 55 acres of donated land at the same site. We also secured $750,000 in grant money for acquisition of the property and $800,000 in grant money, which came in two phases. Another $400,000 of grant money was secured for Central Park development and improvements. We are awaiting an answer for another $400,000 in a pending grant for Jones Island re-development. I am also very proud of our relationships cultivated with our affiliate youth groups: GYBA, Galaxy Soccer, AYSO, Colts, LaCrosse,and Grayslake Youth Wrestling Club. None of these great organizations had an affiliate relationship with the PD when I first came on the board. Our programming has grown from 75 different recreation classes to over 250. I'm also proud of the fact that we currently enjoy excellent relationships with the villages of Hainesville and Grayslake, the school districts, and the county.