Lake County board District 10 Jennings: Candidate Profile

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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:BioQA Bio City: Lake ZurichWebsite: MikeJenningsforLakeCounty.comOffice sought: Lake County board District 10 Age: 56Family: Married to Juli, a teaching assistant at Lake Forest High School, for 33 years. Proud father of two adult children: Kristine, a physician's assistant and instructor at Rosalind Franklin University, and Steve, an emergency room technician.Occupation: Firefighter/paramedic, Skokie Fire Department, retiring in September, and a small business owner.Education: State certified firefighter; firefighter training as a member of the Army 7th Infantry at Ft. Ord, as well as the Skokie Fire Department; extensive paramedic and CPR training; CPR instructor training.Civic involvement: Current member, Forest Lake Homeowner's Association Board; government liaison committee chair. Boot Day Food Drive at Skokie Fire Department. Former trustee of Lake Zurich Fire Protection District. Former member, Building and Grounds Committee, St. Peter's United Church of Christ. ALS Walk every year in support of a friend with the disease. Former coach of youth football in Lake Zurich.Elected offices held: No elective offices.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Questions Answers Should the county continue to pay for road improvements on state routes that otherwise wouldnâ#128;™t be addressed?Ideally, our county property taxes should only be spent on roads owned by the county. As a County Board member, I would strongly advocate for our share of state road dollars for state road improvements through personal contacts with our legislators. But if we donâ#128;™t get what we need, the County Board should continue to make up the shortfall. Our state is facing severe financial difficulties and drivers donâ#128;™t care who owns the roads when they hit a pothole.If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives youâ#128;™ve led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?I would bring a strong awareness of how difficult it is for most people to afford the property taxes in Lake County. I want to ask hard questions about how our tax dollars are being spent, particularly when it comes to the expensive building projects that the County Board has sponsored over the past few years. I often point to the approximately $100 million the county has budgeted for county courts buildings as an example of unnecessary overspending. We need to instead spend those dollars on tax incentives and other initiatives to attract businesses and jobs into Lake County.Name one concrete program youâ#128;™ll create or personnel move youâ#128;™ll make to improve efficiency in the county government operation or make it more it more successful. Explain how it will be funded and how youâ#128;™ll overcome any obstacles in initiating it.I would create a task force to evaluate county spending on administrative positions and contractors. County government currently employs more that 2800 people and quite a few of them earn more than $150,000 per year in salary and benefits. Yet the county also spends millions every year on contractors and consultants. County Board members should evaluate whether some employees can take on the tasks that outside contractors currently perform before awarding those contracts. I believe there will be a great deal of resistance to this idea, but I will fight to implement this to start reducing unnecessary spending.Given the continued decline in interest of golf, should the forest district consider divesting its interests in some or all of its golf holdings?Yes. I would suggest evaluating the golf courses to see which are most valued by golfers. Forest Preserve employees should be asked to identify which of the remaining underutilized courses could be converted to high-quality forest preserve land by removing drainage tiles and planting vegetation. The remaining golf courses could be divested and the money used to invest in more quality open lands and to develop of more of our current Forest Preserves for wildlife preservation and public trail use by people of all abilities. As a big fan of hiking myself, Iâ#128;™d be happy to help this process along.Do you have any ideas on how you could work with municipalities within your district? What kind of issues do you think it would be worth collaborating on?With my experience in diffusing tense situations as a firefighter/paramedic, I look forward to helping resolve conflicts between municipalities. One example is the recent annexation by Grayslake of 35 acres at the northern edge of Mundelein. The current plan is to allow a large trucking facility there, something most people in Mundelein won't want in their backyards. In addition, searching for reciprocity in a wide variety of overlapping services between the county, townships and municipalities, such as border-area road maintenance, would also be one of my top priorities. This could potentially save everyone a lot of money.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?1.Jobs that pay a living wage are the #1 need in Lake County. We should provide incentives to create job training tied to specific industry and company needs. 2.A recommitment to the 10-year Plan to end homelessness in Lake County, which is supposed to expire in 2016. 3.Fewer resources devoted to building new facilities and more to the needs of people: mental health services, veterans programs, crime prevention and substance abuse avoidance. 4.Reducing flooding and protecting our drinking water supply through environmentally-sound building regulations, as well as improving drainage, expanding sewers and protecting lake and aquifer quality throughout the county.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.I admire investor Warren Buffett who was unhappy that his secretary pays more in taxes â#128;#147; in proportion to her income â#128;#147; than he does.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I learned that hard work has value. I started mowing lawns when I was 11 and havenâ#128;™t stopped working since then.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would not change anything except to have given back to my community even more than have. Giving back makes you feel good.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?History helped me appreciate how good it is to live in America and how often we must fight the special interests to improve our lives.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Find a career you love, work hard at it, relax when youâ#128;™re not working, and youâ#128;™ll have a great life!