Thomas Sherlock: Candidate Profile

Back to Warrenville City Council Ward 4

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: WarrenvilleWebsite: No alderman website. www.villagechronicles.net, www.sherlockcomputerservices.comOffice sought: Warrenville City Council Ward 4 Age: 56Family: 5 brothers and sisters. All live in area. Mother lives in Lombard.Occupation: IT ConsultantEducation: BS Computer Science Lewis University MBA Benedictine UniversityCivic involvement: Retail Business Owner Warrenville 7 years Member of Warrenville Arts Council (folded last year) Volunteer for numerous city activities throughout the year. Sponsor some of the local events here in town ie St Irene's Chili Cookoff, donation of items and services to Library, Atheletic associations etc... One of the founding members of our Free local community newspaper. It is a volunteer based newspaper that has been serving the community for close to 7 years.Elected offices held: This is my first run for a governmental position. Other positions I have held outside of that are Project manager for Corporate company I have worked for. Partner in IT Services company with 5 others, Owner/CEO/COO for Sherlock Computer Services providing IT services to the residents/businesses of Warrenville and surrounding areas for the past 8 years.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?My goal as Alderman will be toWhat is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales and property taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.At this point the tax is sufficient. We currently have our normal tax revenue as well as our Home rule taxes coming into the City.Rate the efficiency of your town's police and fire coverage. Are the departments well prepared for the next decade? What, if anything, should be changed? Do you have specific public safety concerns?Our Police and Fire department are well staffed. They provide excellent service to the citizens. While I think our Police department is a little overstaffed I will have more information as Alderman to validate or disprove that statement.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Would need to better assess the Staff that is currently at City Hall and the Police Department staff before making any decision in that direction. There are many great volunteer organizations here in town where many individuals give of their free time to make the city a better place. I would like to see more money being funneled in that direction to assist these organizations in creating the community these volunteers envision.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Stop. Take a breath. Re-Strategize the direction the city is taking. We have all this beauty around us in the form of the forest preserves, bike trails, Cantigny, St James Farm, Golf courses. Putting a nice sign up on the outskirts of town is not going to draw people into our town. Marketing all the beauty we have surrounding our town would be the greatest stepping stone in getting those in neighboring communities to visit our town. If it is done right.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The wasteful spending that seems to be occurring at this time. We are borrowing money from our General fund to purchase property in a Tif district with no solid plan on how to recoup those tax dollars back for the citizens. We have a parcel of land called Musselman here in town that the city purchased and approx. a decade later it is still sitting empty, the property lost over half of its value not to mention all the tax dollars the City cleaning up the property to obtain EPA approval. It seems we are spending millions on projects that do not benefit the city or citizens in any way. With some of these projects we will also be taking over infrastructure that is currently owned by the county thus costing the citizens of Warrenville even more money in the future.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.I have really been impressed with Jim Carrey. He gave a speech at one of the Universities that summed up what life is all about.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Don't be afraid to try new things no matter how old you are. Thanks Ma!If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Nothing. My life has unfolded exactly as it was suppose to unfold.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?The classes I enjoyed the most were the classes that pertained to human behavior. Why individuals do what they doIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?The more you give the more you get but it always has to be for the right reasons and remember it is never about you.