Larry Bowman: 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: KildeerWebsite: http://www.elafirst.comOffice sought: Ela Township Board (4-year Terms)Age: 63Family: Married , 4 ChildrenOccupation: Clinical Director - Children's Therapy Rehab SpecialistsEducation: BSEE (Engineering Degree-1973)Civic involvement: Lake Zurich area Chamber, Area Support Goups like (AD/HD, Austum )Village of Kildeer(Planning and Zoning),Government Affairs commitee (Chamber)ELA Coalition against Youth Substance Abuse.Lake County Election JudgeElected offices held: ELA TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE (4years)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: noCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To continue to ensure that Ela Township Taxes are kept at a minimal.Key Issue 2 To continue to ensure that Ela Township does not preform any excessive spending and stays within a balanced budget.Key Issue 3 To continue transparency and accessability to the townships expenditures, and to ensure the township does not enact unreasonable and over burdsome regulations.Questions Answers Name the three most important goals or objectives this board should tackle in the coming term. Prioritize them, and briefly discuss why you believe each to be critical, and how the board should go about addressing them.To continue and safeguard a responisable,accountable and mandatory level of township expenditures to ensure,uphold,and preserve essential Township programs for the citizens of Ela Township.Maintaining,and controlling township labor costs, healthcare costs, and overall benefit expenses will be a priority. Uphold the intrinic values of township government,and its values handed down to us by our forefathers that provide,helping and needed community programs of all types that has stood the test of time.In the 21st Century, with municipalities gobbling up vacant land, why are townships needed? Should they be serving a new role? If so, what?Township servies neither overlap nor duplicate the services provided by municipalities,and townships wages per employee are lower and incorpate more part time staff with lower benefit costs. It has been shown that townships are more efficient and effective then larger and consolidated governments.It has also been shown that debt also rises with the size of government,and smaller government like townships are closer too, and understand the needs of the people.Smaller local township government drive greater efficiency, despite theories to the contrary. townships are simply less expnsive.What should be the primary responsibility of township government?The primary responsibilities of Townships is to continue to offer services that the community looks for and needs like General Assistance,Senior Citizens Programs, Community programs, Youth Programs, Social Workers, Property/Tax Assistance and Assessment Programs, Highway and Road Programs,Bus services, Cemeteries and Parks and Recreattional Facilities.In these hard economic times, can you identify some township expenses/programs that could be trimmed or eliminated to reduce the tax burden?We will continue ongoing programs to increase our overall opperating efficiencies, and change procedures to meet the current needs of the township(like cost cutting snow ice removal programs). Implementing new cost reduction programs (like energy and waste removal contracts for the Township). No increase on tax levy (Ela Township)What specific background or experience do you bring that makes you the best qualified candidate to serve as an elected official in the township?I have been a successful businessman both domestically and internationally,I have always been very active in our comminity, a township trustee, member of a village planning zoning board, active member of the local Chamber, member of Ela Coalition against youth substance abuse and many other comminity orqanizations.