Leah Goodman: 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: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Warrenville City Council Ward 4 Age: 34Family: Married to Nicholas GrafOccupation: AttorneyEducation: Wheaton-Warrenville South High School, Class of 1998, Valedictorian. Bachelor of Science in Physics, Stanford University, 2002 Bachelor of Arts in English, Stanford University, 2002 JD, University of Michigan Law School, 2005Civic involvement: Member of the Warrenville Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, 2005-2011Elected offices held: Alderman, Ward 4, Warrenville. 2011-presentQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Serving the citizens of Warrenville for the past four years has been an honor. I've worked hard to represent my neighbors and hope to continue to do so. I have the experience to do the job right, and familiarity with current and past local issues, dating back to 2005, when I joined the Plan Commission/Zoning Board of Appeals. As Alderman, I've worked very hard, serving on many committees covering various topics, from revising the City's Strategic Plan, redesigning the City website, redistricting ward boundaries after the census, and landscaping along the widened Rte 56, to Summer Daze and the Fermilab Community Advisory Board. That's a wide range of issues, but I take pride in being a detail person. All my life, I have maintained a commitment to serve my community. I love Warrenville, and I want my family, friends, and neighbors to be happy here in the years ahead. My first priority as Alderman is always going to be the best long-term interests of the community when it comes to making planning and budget decisions. To me, that means making responsible choices, without shirking investments in the future, even in difficult economic times. We have to make sure that we have world class technology, infrastructure, and education, as well as open space and sustainable, green initiatives, to keep Warrenville's people working and playing here. If we make our city attractive to new businesses and residents, and serve our current neighbors as best we can, our citizens will prosper.What 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.Warrenville has worked hard to keep our property tax levy low, and we have a diversified revenue stream so that our city budget does not depend primarily upon property taxes. This year, the property tax levy dropped by over 2%, and a recent community survey found that a majority of residents feel that the tax level is about right. Outreach to Cantera restaurants in the past year found similar results, that business owners felt that the current level of city food and beverage sales taxes were not problematic.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 coverage are top notch. The recent results of our Community Survey show that residents feel safe, protected, and comfortable with the levels of service provided by our police department. Our professional and volunteer firefighters (who are not part of the City government, nor overseen by the City Council) are a credit to Warrenville. However, due to the unfortunate timing of two separate projects, there is an issue this year that may affect public safety. Two bridges in town will be under construction and closed at the same time, cutting off some access across parts of the city starting in Spring 2015 and continuing nearly all year. I have expressed some concern that it will affect emergency response times for our first responders. However, the police and firefighters are cognizant of the issue and taking steps to handle the situation, strategically locating equipment and personnel on both sides of the river during the construction and remapping routes across remaining connections.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?The City of Warrenville's budget shows that the largest expenses are police officer salaries and the repair and maintenance of city roads. There are no easy cuts there. Community Survey responses show that public safety and keeping our roads safe and well-maintained continue to be very high priorities. If anything, the citizens of Warrenville want more services, not less, so the role of the City Council is clear. We must provide careful annual scrutiny to ensure that money goes to programs that work, and provide services efficiently.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I have proposed a new plan for communicating with the public via an annual Telephone Town Hall about a subject of concern to the community. A chosen spokesman, possibly the mayor, could address the residents of Warrenville using all landline telephones in the city. A call would be made, telling whoever answers the phone that they are about to be connected, live, to a Telephone Town Hall on a particular subject, so that a speaker can inform residents about upcoming events, ongoing programs, new issues, or whatever the City Council chooses. Anyone who wishes can hang up, and everyone may connect to an operator to ask questions. Citizen surveys have indicated a desire for new methods of communication from the City, and this idea might allow us to reach out to a whole new cross-section of residents, who may not currently use other methods to contact the City. This idea is going to be part of a Budget Decision Package and will be voted on by the whole City Council in the coming months during the budget process.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?In any given week, a multitude of issues come before the Council that can profoundly affect life for Warrenville's residents and businesses. A few are as follows: 1) For much of the past year, I have served on a committee to put together a plan for our water and sewer fund that will provide budget certainty for years to come when predictable repair and replacement costs arise. It's called the EMRP, and it will mirror our existing plan, the CMRP, which covers the long term repair and replacement costs for the city's other capital assets. 2) I have also been working on a committee, along with staff and consultants, to revise the Strategic Plan, with a strong economic development component. We have reached out to residents, community stakeholders, staff, and public officials, to put together a long-term planning document to retain and grow our businesses and provide an outline for future growth and long-term prosperity. That project continues to unfold. 3) Another plan, long in the works, which appears nearly ready to come to fruition, is the development of the city-owned Civic Center Redevelopment Site #1, known as the Musselman property. As that project progresses, oversight will be needed to ensure that a worthwhile, truly Warrenville-friendly result is achieved for the community, after years of effort by staff and officials. All of these issues, and many others, are important to me, and to the people of Warrenville.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Aung San Suu Kyi, of Mynamar, has represented peaceful protest in favor of democracy for decades. Her recent release and election to parliament inspires hope.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?To be honest, independent, thoughtful, and maintain my integrity.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?It would be fantastic to go back in time and do something about Bartman and that foul ball!What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I majored in Physics and English at Stanford. I learned to write and to be analytical. Now I'm a lawyer- the law is analytical writing/reading.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?To be honest, independent, thoughtful, and maintain their integrity.