David Wentz: 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: NapervilleWebsite: www.votefordavewentz.comOffice sought: Naperville City Council Age: 51Family: I am a lifetime DuPage County resident. I was born and raised in Glen Ellyn with my parents Chet and Carolyn, older sister and two younger brothers. While growing up my father's parents lived in Naperville in the 60's and early 70s. I have been married to my wife Tonya for 24 years. We have three children, Haley age 18, College student at UW Stout, Luke age 15 sophomore at Metea VHS and Zach age 13 7th grader at Hill M.S. Members of Bethany Lutheran Church.Occupation: Attorney at LawEducation: University of Illinois College of Law. Juris Doctor 1989 Augustana College, BA Political Science 1985Civic involvement: Chairmen Naperville Healing Field of Honor 2009 2012 Naperville Exchange Club Past President, Secretary, Board of Director, District President Member, Ribfest Manpower Director Naperville Rotary Club 2013 present, Naperville CAPS Board 2010-2015Elected offices held: Elected Naperville Township Trustee 2009-2013 Elected Naperville City Councilman 2013-2015Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Experience in the community helping to solve community problems. My experience as an elected official both at the Township and now the City Council level for the past 2 years, my experience in the business community as an attorney, my experience as a father of three children and my experience as a member of various not for profit organizations give me a unique understanding of the needs facing the Naperville community both now and for the next several years. I have a good grasp of how to align our strategic initiatives with our short and long term plans while keeping in mind sound fiscal policies while implementing those plans. We need leaders who can help us move those ideas forward by working with staff, building consensus and agreeing to disagree. Within the last 20 months I have initiated proposals which have eliminated parking on Washington Street, streamlined and reduced the City's response time for returning statements of open accounts from 7 to 2 days and working to implement a senior services task force for the first time in Naperville. We need to continue to encourage ways of engaging our community to help Naperville meet our needs. That is something I do well.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.The combined retail sales taxes and property taxes make up about 50% of the tax revenues upon which Naperville funds its general fund operations. I think the sales tax portion is set at the proper level. The highest generators of sales tax are our automobile dealerships and our big box stores. Those two combined components fuel the success of our efforts to close the budget deficit. It is anticipated that FY 15 will generate $35.8 million in retail sales taxes and $19 million in property taxes. Over the last 5 years we have seen a steady increase in sales tax revenue of about 4-5% each year. With the addition of the Main Street Promenade east, the Embassy Suites Convention Center, Water Street and the continued build up of residential housing in the sector G region, we should see a steady increase in sales and property tax revenues for several years to come. The City council recently approved a slight increase in its tax levy for 2015 as a means to help bridge the anticipated $12.7 budget deficit. I voted against the initial levy that would have reduced the deficit down to around $11 million because I felt it was to high but didn't want to be irresponsible in setting it so low that we would not be able to meet our ongoing operational needs.Early projections for the fiscal year 2016 budget showed a $12 million deficit. What can the city do to avoid future budget deficits? Where can the city save money or make cuts?Not spending more than we have and planning our expenditures wisely. We have a number of items where we can so that we will only expend funds for those projects and items that need to be spent in this fiscal year. Since the excess reserve fund is down to almost nothing, amongst the creative ways the City can increase its revenues or cut costs avoid deficit spending include 1. Take a special census that will accentuate growth areas. 2. Examine all of our current outside contracts to see if any of them can be rebid, like we did with the waste hauling contracts 3. Review with each department head where certain cuts and CIP deferments can occur. One such deferment emerged with the vehicle replacement fund where we discovered roughly $2 million dollars left over from FY 2015 and a total of $8.5 million in reserve which was not being spent. I recently suggested under new business that the City undergo a special census within the next year or so. Another way to avoid future deficits would be to force each director to come up with a no increase or a 5%cut in its budget. The Library Board needs to better justify its increase over last years budget proposal and see what items can be deferred and which items are a wish list.What additional regulations, if any, should the city council impose on bars and liquor license holders to help keep the downtown night life safe? What do you think of the restrictions recently created, such as relating to late-night entry, shot sales, beer sizes, drink specials and security training?With limited exceptions, I don't believe we need any more regulations than what we have put in place to regulate alcohol consumption behavior in the downtown region. A recent tracking of the metrics over the last few weeks of 2014 showed a significant drop in alcohol related arrests in and around the Naperville area. We need a better way of managing our police force to monitor downtown patrons during the late night hours in a more efficient manner. As a member of the interview committee to hire a new police commander, I was able to get each commander candidate to admit that they will work on reducing the police congestion on Chicago Avenue by spreading themselves around the downtown area so the NPD don't just set up shop at Washington and Chicago and then react to an incident that occurs instead of proactively roaming the downtown region to see if any incidents can be prevented before they start. We want to continue to encourage the downtown bar operators to regulate themselves through their cell phone tracking application device. We also need to continue to track a periodic matrix update on all of the liquor code updates that we approved this past fall and early winter. I have seen the late-night entry ordinance in action first hand in operation and am pleased to say it is working. Blocking access to go into bar or tavern within one hour of when closing will take place is a reasonable way of regulating behavior.What should the city council's role be in bringing businesses to town? Should businesses be allowed to bring in proposals under code names, such as "Project Panda"? What do you think of the decision to approve the SKF development at Warrenville and Freedom roads before informing the public of what the development would be?As a council which performs mostly oversight our specific role in bringing in new business varies depending upon the situation. Each of us may have our own set of business contacts who might be interested in starting a business in Naperville. We need to continue to encourage our private/public sector community business partners such as the NDP DuPage Biz and DECA to work with other groups and businesses to come to Naperville. I believe there are times when it is wise to place a cloak over the actual named developer of a particular project for disclosure purposes. I believe the decision to actually approve the SKF development before informing the public of what it would be was deceptive and manipulative. While secrecy of a named developer might be crucial to that company's anonymity, it is important to let the public know what is being proposed so that can provide us with public input as well.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The time is right to realistically assess whether to enact a reasonable landlord tenant registration ordinance. While we need to balance the interests of free enterprise, the City has a right to know who is living in a house and whether they are law abiding citizens. Similar ordinances have already been enacted in several other surrounding communities including Aurora, Bolingbrook, Carol Stream, have adopted them as have dozens if not hundreds of other cities and villages throughout Illinois. We can implement an ordinance that would balance our own local concerns over public safety versus too much government intrusion. We need to work on streamlining transportation solutions. We need to implement a traffic stop light integration system as soon as possible. We need to encourage better intergovernmental cooperation with other municipalities, counties and the state to help solve traffic congestion problems. I applaud DuPage County for agreeing to widen 75th Street at Rickert Road to add right turn lanes.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Governor Bruce Rauner inspires me. He took on the Springfield and Chicago establishments at a time when this State needed it the most and won.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Work hard and good things will come from it.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Not making unnecessary expenditures just because we had the money at the time.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I enjoyed studying Constitutional Law in college and law school. It helped me have a better understanding of our Nation's history.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Set goals and stick to them.