Laura B. Andersen: 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: Campton HillsWebsite: http://www.vote4camptonhills.comOffice sought: Campton Hills Village trusteeAge: 60Family: Married 39 years, with two sonsOccupation: HomemakerEducation: Bachelor's degree in chemistry with a medical technology National Certification from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, Florida Atlantic University, 1975Civic involvement: Emergency Management Liaison to Kane County Emergency Services for Campton Hills Village, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Hunter Safety Instructor, Boy Scout Leader and Merit Badge Counselor, Trout Unlimited Instructor, Cook-DuPage Beekeepers Association member and former board member, NRA Instructor, Illinois State Rifle Association member, St. Charles Sportsmans Club member and former board member, Rochelle Conservation Club member, Safari Club International member, Sisters on the Fly member, Allied Illinois Markswomen former President, Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow Instructor, Slow Food City's Edge board memberElected offices held: Trustee, Village of Campton Hills, 2008-presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Protecting the safety, and well-being of the people who live in the village of Campton Hills with a high standard of police, fire and emergency servicesKey Issue 2 Protecting our limited resources for sustainability.Key Issue 3 Proactively working on responsible growth and economic issues affecting us from the county, state or nation so that we can get the best possible results for our residents.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?For the last 3 years as a management liaison to Kane County Emergency Services, I have personally focused on the preparation of emergency response by the village to disasters. I have the experience of coordinating mitigating responses to flood events with Kane County Emergency Management that occurred within the village the last 3 years. Because of my emergency work, I brought a statewide public works mutual aid agreement to the village that we adopted in preparation for future disasters. I have invested time taking Incident Command courses in order to be better prepared for various disaster situations. I am diligent in committing time to study village situations so that I can make educated decisions in which the majority of our residents are served on any of the issues coming before the village board.Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.I think the 1 percent tax rate is adequate but would like to see the economic development of our local area improve to the point that we have no empty business locations and more customers that view the businesses already established here as destinations.Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.Right now the biggest public safety concern is the uncertainty of sustained service levels, costs and auto aid involving a fire district serving a portion of our community. I think that voters are confused by the non-binding referendum question asked at the last election by the newly renamed Fox River Countryside Fire/Rescue District whether voters would be willing to pay 10 cents more for sustained services. Getting the news that this fire district cancelled its contracts with its current emergency providers and intended to build its own staffed and capitalized department within 4 months of the current emergency contracts expiring is unfathomable. I think public hearings should have been held well in advance of these now perceived sudden changes so that long range costs and service level impacts could be understood and explained in order to allow the voters time to decide if they want or can support these changes.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Campton Hills Village runs on a very lean budget and is proud of the fact that we have provided police and other services since our incorporation on the taxes already collected by the state with NO additional increases to our taxes. Because we became a village we now get state tax shared revenues diverted directly to us to address our local needs. Also, as a village, we will continue to look at negotiating better terms to trim the budget where we can from service providers as we have done so in the past. The village could trim the budget from some of our extra programs that are not crucial to the operation of the village, but would be a shame to lose, such as the Beautification Committee, Ride in Kane program or the Too Good for Drugs education program in our two elementary schools.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Because we are still ""birthing"" this village, we have lots of good ideas circulating all the time. I personally would like to see a mechanism to have more co-operative gardening plots on open space parcels within our neighborhoods. This would allow us to work in conjunction with the federal and county initiatives that are trying to improve our nutritional opportunities.