Len Prejna: 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: Rolling Meaadows, ILWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Rolling Meadows Mayor Age: 66Family: Married 36 years to Pat Waldron Prejna3 daughters2 grandchildrenOccupation: Educational Support at Rolling Meadows high School, High School District 214Education: Western Michigan Univ., Bachelor of Science in BusinessWm. Rainey Harper College, Associate DegreeForest View High SchoolCivic involvement: -President of Rolling Meadows Crimes Stoppers and Charter Member-Chairman of Rolling Meadows Community Events Foundation -Co-Chairman of Rolling Meadow's 60th -Anniversary Committee -Completed all of the Academies that the City of Rolling Meadows has offered to residents: Police Academy, Fire Academy, and Public Works Academy-Member of Rolling Meadows Historical Society-Member of Rolling Meadows Vehicle Replacement Committee-Coached AYSO Soccer for 10 years, coached Girl's Softball Basketball for 5 yearsElected offices held: ..Currently Alderman 2nd Ward...Served on the Board of Fire Police Commissioners for 12 years, 4 of those as Chairman.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?My 3 1/2 years as Alderman on the City Council has given me valuable experience in all areas of the operation of our city government. I am passionate about the City of Rolling Meadows where I have lived in and been involved with for 33 years. When I began volunteering in Rolling Meadows, I heard a young park district program director say "you can be part of the problem or part of the solution." So whether volunteering at the Rolling Meadows Park District or in the City of Rolling Meadows, I have kept focused on that thought. When appointed to the Board of Fire Police Commissioners, I worked with other commissioners to make the process more efficient. One example is that in the past we had done physical agility testing in-house. It was discovered other cities had moved to an outside company for this testing. This saved the city time and money in the testing process. My time as a Commission gave me the opportunity to gain insight into budgeting and manpower planning for those departments. This gave me a good foundation for when I became Alderman on the City Council.I also have been a strong supporter of business in the City. I believe that the area most in need of improvement in the city is the Community Development Department.My experience, involvement and strong passion for finding solutions while working in the city makes me the best candidate for Mayor of the City of Rolling Meadows.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.I believe that we should leave our property and sales taxes at their present level. We should look at ways through economic development to increase revenue so that we can maintain or hopefully lower taxes in the future. The bump in the road for the future of taxes in Rolling Meadows will be what the State of Illinois mandates for pension contributions or other state mandates.What should be done with the long-vacant Dominick's site?The old Dominick's property should be marketed as a destination location. Kirchhoff Road is a major thoroughfare with easy access from Rt 53 or Wilke Road. We need to sit down with developers and let them know that we are strongly committed to developing this destination location. We need to be communicating and marketing this idea to businesses that show interest in coming to Rolling Meadows. I would sit down with any and all developers or businesses to communicate our strong support for developing this property. Letting the developer know that the city supports a plan that either includes all commercial use, or for example, a mixture of 1/3 condos and 2/3 commercial. This type of development would draw restaurants and medium-size businesses. Increasing the density would make the property more attractive to businesses. I believe our citizens would support this idea.The City needs to ask and answer the following questions:A. What can the City do to make things happen for this property to be developed such as: zoning changes, marketing promotions with Chamber of Commerce and the City of Rolling Meadows.B. What can the City do to coordinate and reach out to the county and the state to look for resources to help medium and small businesses become attracted to the property.We need to be better prepared in our Community Development Dept. when businesses come to Rolling Meadows.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I have worked with the City Council on the budget. I believe we currently run a very tight budget and have done a very good job of doing more with less. The area that we need to increase the budget is the Economic Development Dept. I would work on updating the current computer systems in the department. This will streamline the process of bringing more business into the city. In addition I would add a communications, marketing and events manager to the department. We need to go further than just bringing business into the City of Rolling Meadows. We need to be communicating to the citizens and the surrounding communities about what is available in the city. This would assist businesses currently in the city to expand and grow.Do you support the fire department's plan to replace Fire Station 15 with a new station to the south, and Fire Station 16 with a new station to the east?No. I believe that Station 16 should stay at its current location. The reason being that it was remodeled approximately ten years ago and is currently in good operating condition. I've always supported replacing and rebuilding Station 15. So at this time I would only support rebuilding Station 15. I will not support spending approximately 9 million dollars to build two stations when only one station needs to be replaced at this time.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Our city needs to be more proactive in attracting new business and industry to the city. Secondly, we need to increase the involvement and participation of our citizens to help our city grow and prosper.I have seen what volunteers in the community such as Meadows Christian Fellowship, Rolling Meadows Crime Stoppers and Community Events Foundation, mean to the community.Four years ago if you talked to residents about Rolling Meadows they would say we want more activities in the city.Now citizens can go to the car show in downtown Meadows on Friday nights. Concerts in the park such as Wind Down by the Creek or a Farmers Market on a Saturday Morning.A quote that comes to mind is from Vince Lombardi: "the measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Tom Rooney, our current State Senator. He had a 30-year dream and goal to become a State Senator and he achieved it.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I watched my father go to work every day and work hard. I learned that if you keep charging forward you can achieve your goals.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have taken a year off after college and traveled around the world, instead of going directly into the working world.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?My favorite subject was History. By learning about the past it helped me deal with the present and plan for the future.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Follow your heart, your dreams and your beliefs.