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Kathleen Bergan Schmidt: Candidate Profile

McHenry County Board District 3 (Democrat)

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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: Crystal LakeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: McHenry County Board District 3 Age: 72Family: My husband Larry and I are the parents of two sons. Christopher is a Senior Researcher at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Michael died of leukemia in 1987 when he was nine years old.Occupation: Retired Instructor of HistoryEducation: Quincy College/University BAUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MA in HistoryCivic involvement: McHenry County Historical Society, Environmental Defenders of McHenry County. League of Women Voters, Silver Creek/Sleepy Hollow Watershed Coalition, Senior Services Grant CommissionElected offices held: 2008-12 Member of the McHenry County Board - District 3Questions Answers There were significant voting problems in the March primary. Are you confident sufficient steps have been taken to avoid a repeat in November? What role, if any, should the county board have in such matters?We won't know until the November election, but I believe there will not be a repeat. I recently took the election judge training and found it to be much more complete than in the past. The best part about it was that it included hands-on training with the electronic poll books. The County Board should note any comments made by their constituents and set aside some time for a guided discussion about how voting proceeded for the election no later than January 2017.Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?I am running for election/re-election to make use of my previous 4 year experience. I will bring to the office the research and analytical skills I have from my academic training in history to deal with the current and yet-to-come issues. I want to take part in the discussion of reducing the number of county board members. I am for the formation of a task force of both Board members and citizens from the County to work out the details of number of members and number of district s for the County Board consideration in formulating referendum language.Describe your position regarding the balance between county spending and revenues as it exists today, then describe the chief threats you see looming in the future and how the county should deal with them.Revenues are static or declining but what services the county is obligated and/or expected to provide to residents are increasing in cost. Ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness and delivery of services should be done. If cost-cutting or elimination of services proves to be necessary, it should be done with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.How do you rate the county government on transparency and the public's access to records? If you consider it adequate, please explain why. If you think improvements are needed, please describe them and why they are important.Adequate does describe the current state of McHenry County's transparency and public access to records. Good advances have been make in recent years through mesures such as audio recording of board meetings and greater use of the website to convey information. But "adequate" alwasys leaves room for improvement. Extending the use of audio recording to committee meetings would make how decisions are reached more transparent. The Finance and Audit and the Planning and Development Conmittees would be a good place to start.Please list any elected office you've ever run for and what the result of that election was. Have you ever been appointed to fill an unexpired term?Nunda Township Trustee, 2005 - lostMcHenry County Board, 2006 - for 2 year term - lost: 2008 - won: 2012 and 2014 - lost I have never been appointed to fill an unexpired term.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I support reducing the number of county board members and increasing the number of districts. And I would like to see the exact numbers of such a "fewer and more" change decided by a task force that includes a limited number of county board members and representatives of the citizens of the county. The 2030 Plan Commission and the group formed to create the Water Resources Action Plan provide examples of such collaborative efforts that benefit the county.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.State Senator Kathleen Vinehout of northwest Wisconsin's District 31 is a hard working, common sense progressive legislator. All states could use more like her!What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Vote in each and every election, especially local elections such as school boards and village government.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Candidate did not respond.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?History was my favorite subject. It provided me with good professional teaching credentials and background knowledge and analytical skills useful as a member of society.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?No whining allowed if you don't vote, so vote in each and every election.