Dan Bundalo: Candidate Profile

Back to /news/politics/election/race/Wildwood-Park-Board/">Wildwood Park Board

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: WildwoodWebsite: www.danforwildwood.comOffice sought: Wildwood Park Board Age: 61Family: Happily married to Cindy for 38 years, Father of 3, and Proud Grandfather of 6Occupation: Finance Manager for Auto NationEducation: Mayfair College Chicago Illinois, Former Real Estate Agent and Licensed Illinois Real Estate AppraiserCivic involvement: Norridge Youth Association Little League Baseball President, Volunteer NYA Softball Coach, Volunteer NYA Baseball Coach, Volunteer Hockey Coach, River Park Football Volunteer, Lord of Glory Mobile Food Pantry Volunteer, Meals on Wheels Delivery DriverElected offices held: Norridge Youth Association Little League Baseball PresidentQuestions AnswersWhat programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?The residents of Wildwood take pride in our programs. The preschool, swimming lessons, and day camp are iconic Wildwood programs that people really appreciate. However, we need to closely keep an eye on the financial solvency of each individual program. This starts with good accounting practices so we can clearly see what the costs and income are for each specific program. It is important that we are budget savvy and use our resources to provide meaningful programs that people want. If a program is making money then it's a win and needs to be kept. If it is not, we need to weigh the demand and the service it provides to the community. Wildwood is a community that prides itself on lakes, parks, and recreation. We need to offer excellence in these areas.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.In this current economic climate, it is hard to ask taxpayers to dig in their pockets for more. With one exception, the park district has raised the taxes every year since at least 2009 and are currently having a hard time maintaining the parks and lakes we have. Sand needs to be replenished, docks need replacing, and landscaping needs to be tended to. One of the two recreational lakes is not swimmable. With the state of our current parks and lakes it is hard to justify more money spent on additional property. The board's talk of acquiring new property and the thoughts of the large expenses associated with employing more staff to man that property are alarming. At a time when the financial forecasts for our state and local governments are so shaky, we should be concentrating on shoring up and taking care of what we have and not extending ourselves too thin. In this economic climate other communities are cutting back, not adding. The park district has shown that they cannot maintain their budget at its current state by asking year after year for more tax dollars while letting our lakes and parks go into disrepair. We already have great assets, we must focus on making these the best they can be.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 recreation of our lakes is an invaluable asset to Wildwood. It is what sets us apart, draws people, and makes us truly special. From a recreational standpoint, Valley Lake is infected with snails and parasites causing swimmers itch and is rendered useless. Gages Lake is in danger of the same fate as the snails are easily transferred lake to lake by waterfowl. There is already a budget set for maintaining the lakes and this needs to be focused on the elimination of those infected snails and the prevention of spreading them. There are lakes in our immediate area who are successfully treating swimmers itch and we need to look at those same treatments. While the board continually votes to increase expenses associated with staff and salaries they have actually decreased what is spent on parks and lakes. Instead of addressing this issue the Wildwood Park District Board voted not to treat Valley Lake and not to talk about the lake for two years. Waiting only makes the problem on Valley lake get worse and increasing the likelihood of the snails spreading to Gages Lake. Losing our lakes would be the biggest crisis the Wildwood Park District has ever faced.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?In this economic climate we need to follow the lead of other municipalities and look at creative ways to do this. There is no need to duplicate the ownership of expensive equipment or the paying of staff for services that could be pooled. The Wildwood Park District is a small park district next to some great partners such as Warren Township, Gurnee and Grayslake. We need to capitalize on this so we can provide great service at a savings to the community. Over the last few years the park board has expanded their operating costs greatly by going away from this model by bringing in more employees and expensive equipment leading to a great increase in operating expenses. Adding more and more employees with expensive insurance and retirement packages is something our community cannot afford. From a financial standpoint these are areas that need to be examined. With my background in finance I believe I am the candidate to give a hard look at the finances. The low taxes, great parks, and beautiful lakes is what draws people to our area. The current direction of the board puts maintaining all of that in jeopardy. 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 am an avid fisherman and outdoorsman and love living in Wildwood. My grandchildren love the lakes and the recreational opportunities of our great community. As my children are now grown and I have the time to give back, I want to make sure the assets of our community, and especially the lakes and parks, are maintained for the next generation. I was a real estate appraiser and know how important these assets are to our property values. I am a longtime volunteer and was the president of Norridge Youth Baseball with over 500 participants and know what it takes to run a successful program. I have a financial background and the right perspective to keep taxes low and see our parks through a tough economic climate. After attending park board meetings and seeing the current board's resistance to representing the people of Wildwood, I was compelled to run and be a voice for the community.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I feel it is very important to represent the residents of Wildwood. The park district has a real disconnect with the people. Their communication is very poor and the finances and operations are not transparent. The board attempts to resist resident participation in the democratic process. In their pursuit of limiting public comment and resident participation, the board was found in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Transparency in government is a necessity. Though met with resistance with Freedom of Information requests to the park district, we are yielding concerns. The current director lives in Kenosha and, in 2014, ten other employees were also from Wisconsin. Two of these employees are the director's husband and daughter. When you see the taxes being raised year after year and look at the budget, it is salaries to these employees that are increasing as money spent on maintaining our parks and lakes is being cut. My opponent has voted for yearly tax increases for at the least the last six years and approved the expansion of these out of state employees and the cutting of maintenance. This is hard to see when one of our lakes is unusable and residents complain of our parks being in disrepair. The residents are being unfairly asked to bear the costs of the increasing staff by higher taxes year after year and increased fees such as boat key costs. Services to residents such as professional park security have been changed to employ the director's family members all the while residents continue to note increased security concerns at our parks. Our precious tax dollars should not be used to increase salaries but instead utilized to improve our parks, our lakes, and our property values. I know the answers to these questions have a lot of passion behind them, but the people of Wildwood are passionate about fixing our parks and lakes, and I promise to represent that. Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Lawrence Ventresca Sr. who as a leader in a high position has shown he has an ear for everybody. He is so knowledgable because he takes the time to learn from everyone.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up? If you work hard you can accomplish anything. If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on? I would thank my Mom, who has recently passed away, more for all she did for me by immigrating to the United States and the sacrifices she made for our family. What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I loved History and it helped me to realize that every circumstance has a rich background and many factors that contributed to the present.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be? I always told my three children I wanted to raise them to be good so they could grow up to do good.