Kenneth P. Johnson: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Wood DaleWebsite: http://noneOffice sought: Wood Dale MayorAge: 60Family: singleOccupation: attorneyEducation: BA Political Science from Taylor University JD degree from De Paul UniversityCivic involvement: Board of Directors of the Chicagoland Christian Sports Conference, IHSA Basketball referee, Volunteer attorney for the Wood Dale Homeowner's Association, Board of Directors of the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, Board of Directors of Du Page Mayors and Managers, attend Medinah Baptist ChurchElected offices held: Addison Township Trustee (twice) Alderman of Ward 2, Mayor, President of Du Page Mayors and Managers and Northeast Illinois Plan Commissioner now known as Chicagoland Metropolitan Planning Agency and Executive Board of Council of MayorsHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Yes, battery with finding of not guilty and expungement of record.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Over the last thirteen years I have brought back to Wood Dale more money, exceeding over $30,000,000.00 dollars, more money that all previous Mayors combined. During this time period we have had 13 years of balanced budgets, no lay offs and no cuts in services and the highest funded police pension fund. Four years of balanced budgets is my number one priority.Key Issue 2 Completion of the Elgin O'Hare Expressway with full western access into the airport including a new 55 gate terminal. I regularly attend WOCIT, SOC, Governor's Task Force and IDOT Stakeholders meetings on the subject. The key to the project is of course getting it built. My preference is a combination of Tollroad and Federal Funding. As Mayor and member of Du Page Mayors and Managers Board of Directors and as an IDOT Stakeholder, it was my idea and we are currently planning for a meeting of the three Cogs (Council of Governments) being Du Page, Northwest and West Central. We will be inviting Senators Durbin and Kirk as well as Congressmen Roskam and Quigley attempting to get them to combine for a bi-partisan effort to put this project of National Significance into the next Federal Transportation Bill which they will be taking up this session. Preliminary estimates are that the Illinois Tollway can only bond up to 1,500,000,000 unless they raise tolls throughout the state. Therefore in my opinion the best option is combined tollway and federal funding.Key Issue 3 To totally eliminate overland flooding in Wood Dale. We have been declared a federal disaster area twice in the last two years. Flooding can be reduced or eliminated by: the new proposal to modify the dam at Busse Woods preemtively lowering lake level prior to a flood event; obtaining as I have requested a State Grant from the Illinois Department of Economic Oppertunity (which is managing Federal disaster money allocated for the 2008 flood) in the amount of $6,000,000 to be used for voluntary buy outs, flood proofing and flood plain open space recreational development; purchase of open space to be used for remediation as a result of the construction of the Elgin O'Hare Expressway and Maintaining Du Page County's existing standard that all water displaced by construction of the Elgin O'Hare must be compensated for at the rate of 1.5 to 1 and expansion of the existing Wood Dale-Itasca Reservoir.Questions Answers After an elected official borrowed city money to pay for health insurance, explain why you believe the measures put in place to prevent this in the future are either sufficient or insufficient?The city manager, Mr Douthwaite wanted to handle this by administrative order. I directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance and signed it into law so that this can never happen again. By the way this never should have happened in the first place. I was specifically told by the manager if I was more that 45 days behind, the insurance coverage would be terminated.Last year, Wood Dale was one of the few municipalities in DuPage County that did not suffer layoffs or cutbacks as a result of the recession. How do you think Wood Dale can sustain this balance during continued economic struggles?Through my efforts as Mayor, Wood Dale has had balanced budgets for 13 years. Prior to that I was Finance Chairman and produced 8 years of balanced budgets. We simply spend less money than we take in. Department heads and the manager are instructed they are not allowed to expend funds in excess of not just their total budget but individual line items as well. The budget is the legal authority to spend money; I think of it as a fence that cannot be crossed.When the new $1.27 Metra station came to Wood Dale last year, the hope was that it would spark residential and commercial growth in downtown. Is that happening? If not, what will it take to make that happen?No. We do not have the ability in Wood Dale to turn around the economy. We currently have 340 homes in foreclosure and others that have been foreclosed upon out of a housing stock of 3,424 units. We must fight against blight and insure proper maintainance of the existing foreclosed housing stock. In four to five years this surplus of empty homes should be off the market and we will start to see new residential construction again. However, we are seeing new construction, remodeling and expansion in our industrial park.Do you think plans for a ""corporate Main Street"" in the Thorndale Corridor are the best way to capitalize on the Elgin-O'Hare Expansion? Why?First, I obtained the $180,000 land planning grant through my attendance and participation in the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission which funded the Main Street Study. Unfortunately its conclusions are not sustainable in this economy; without massive City of Wood Dale taxpayer-funded debt to purchase and demolish existing viable businesses. This is not a green site. The initial phase of the plan calls for an investment of 65,000,000 to purchase three properties that after demolition would have a vacant land value of 45,000,000. This doesn't make sense to me to speculate with taxpayers' dollars on a risky real estate development in this economy.What do you think is the best way to deal with existing businesses and homes who are in the Thorndale Corridor but don't fit into the Corporate Main Street plan?There are no homes in the Thorndale Corridor in Wood Dale. Rather than threaten existing viable businesses such as Weigle Tool and Tempco Electric with aquisition and demolition, we need to realize the Wood Dale Industrial Park is one of the main reasons Wood Dale is not having some of the economic problems like numerous of our Du Page Neighbors. I would seek to promote and sustain the existing businesses. We currently have the highest occupancy rate of any industrial park in the six county region as per Crains Magazine. It's an interesting plan that would work well on a vacant site but on a fully developed viable site, it's a threat to existing jobs and existing viable businesses.