Q&A with Schultz

1. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is that? What will be your main priority in office?

I am running for re-election because of my love for this community and my love of nature. I have made a life-time commitment to this by raising my family in this community and by starting my horticulture business here.

We all have been blessed with the legacy of those who had the foresight to set aside open space. It is a wonderful gift. This gift will become better or worse with time, depending on how good of a steward we have been. This is my motivation; to pass along something better than I was given. My main priority is to improve the quality of each of our preserves for preservation, recreation and education.

2. For incumbents and non-incumbents: If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of important initiatives you've led. If you are not an incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make.

As the only Commissioner with a natural resource background, I led the way for "best science" practices. This has, for example, allowed the District to take a landscape view of the West Branch Mitigation Project that looks at the river from its start in the north, and all of its tributaries, all the way south to Will County. The result will be a healthier river that will have improved recreational and educational opportunities for the Citizens of DuPage County. This, incidentally, will increase storm water detention all along the river.

I was instrumental in expanding alternate revenue streams, which will allow the District to improve services and offerings, while keeping taxes low.

3. What specific goals, i.e., potential land acquisition and/or existing preserve management and improvements, do you have in mind for your particular forest preserve district?

District 5 has been lucky to secure about 275 acres since the referendum. With the goal of improving each of our preserves, I am interested in securing the last piece of Goodrich Woods for preservation and education. That was the wish of the Goodrich family when the property passed to public ownership.

I look forward to the improvements in McDowell Grove. The new bridge that will separate the pedestrian and vehicular traffic and the additional trail connection will provide a more enjoyable experience for preserve users. River improvements in the preserve will likewise improve habitat that will result in a better wildlife population. These improvements will increase the quality of recreation, whether one is fishing, bird watching, riding a bike, etc.

Other projects include the trail connection from McDowell Grove to the Riverwalk in Naperville and developing partnerships to finalize plans to the Greene Farmstead in Greene Valley.

4. What are your thoughts on the forest preserve commission's decision to build an urban stream research center at the newly acquired Cenacle property in Warrenville?

This is a tremendous opportunity for the District. It will be located away from the Cenacle buildings, so the center will not disrupt any future use of them. It will be built on land adjacent to the archery range parking lot. So we will see two immediate benefits. First, there will be shared parking for the two uses. Second, since we need to bring utilities to the research center, we will be able to tap into the utilities for the archery range facilities. Both of these benefits provide significant savings for the District.

The urban stream research center will benefit from this location, since researchers will have direct access to both the West Branch of the DuPage River and one of its tributaries. It is also just downstream from a water treatment plant, so researchers can see in real time, the effects that water treatment has on the stream and what mitigation methods are most effective.

We are currently partnering with the DuPage County Storm Water, and are looking to collaborating with various universities on things such as water quality, reintroduction of mussels in the DuPage River and more.

5. What are your thoughts on the best use of the St. James Farm and Dunham forest preserves, particularly in terms of public access?

I would follow the Dunham Forest Preserve Conceptual Master Plan. We are partnering with Wayne by providing shared parking with their historic train station museum. We will provide a picnic area there. There will be trail connections to the community, with some equestrian and pedestrian trails. Multi-use trails will provide access from the south, east, and west. We will re-meander the streams and do wetland restoration. The restoration should provide enough new acreage to make a wetland mitigation bank that will generate revenue for preserve improvements and other projects.

As for St. James Farm, we should do natural resource restoration south of Butterfield Rd., with trails being the primary development. We will preserve the unique equestrian facilities to the north and provide for picnics, cultural events, and equestrian uses. We will develop trails to access the north portion. We will also do restoration work to the natural resources.

I think that the 2016 Olympic Committee should reconsider its decision to hold the Olympic equestrian events at a privately owned farm. It should invest in a publically owned equestrian facility, that is, St. James Farm.

6. Earlier this year, raises of about 3 percent were approved for forest preserve commissioners. Do you feel this pay hike is justified? If so, why? If not, why not?

Because of state statutes, half of the Commissioners would get the raise and the other half would not. The Commission's actions were to bring all of the Commissioners to the same salary.

More importantly, we took care of the taxpayer first; before we passed the raise. We adjusted out of date investments and took advantage of state statutes to recapture lost income from bond proceeds. We restructured our bond debt to save taxpayers real dollars, which we were able to give back to the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars. We anticipate giving back money again next year. We produced a balanced budget year after year, without the threat of laying off employees or creating new taxes to fill gaps. We have a long term budget that is balanced at least through 2014. We have added alternate revenues to the District to add needed services without raising taxes. We have established a fundraising arm to further improve our preserves. On top of that, we have outstanding preserves for families to enjoy.