Mike Warren: 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: ElginWebsite: http://www.mikeforelgin.comOffice sought: Elgin City CouncilAge: 41Family: I have been married for more than 18 years to Laurel. Together we have 2 children Derek (10) and Lindsay (8).Occupation: I have been employed by Rieke Office Interiors in Elgin as an Account Manager for more than 5 years. I have owned and operated several small businesses serving the Elgin community for most of my adult life.Education: I graduated from Larkin High School in Elgin and attended Elgin Community College.Civic involvement: I am a proud member and Past President (2009-10) of the Rotary Club of Elgin. I was the President of the Well Child Center in Elgin and currently serve on the boards of Feeding Greater Elgin, Sherman Health Men's Alliance and the Centre Advisory Board. I am currently serving as an Elgin City Councilman and a liquor commissioner along with chairing the Lords Park Task Force. I volunteer with the Elgin Classic Little League, Cub Scouts Pack 67, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church. I am also a member or the Moose and Owls clubs in Elgin.Elected offices held: Elgin City Council 2009-PresentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 The primary building block in Building a Better Elgin is fiscal responsibility. The first and foremost responsibility of any elected official is to serve as a fiduciary steward of the community's tax dollars. Simply speaking, I have always approached government with a business model, starting with establishing and adhering to a solid balanced budget. All over the country families are having to do more with less. Parents are cutting back on expenses out of concern that their next paycheck is not necessarily guaranteed. When the family budgets of our residents are shrinking, our city's government must follow suit. I've made the tough choices that have led to the city of Elgin scaling back its budget by more than $4 million. I've renegotiated workforce contracts with rate freezes over the last 2 years. Through the years, I have developed the skills to understand financial statements that are required to run a successful business. Operating those businesses has provided me with the needed experience and leadership to be an effective city councilman. During these challenging economic times, it is imperative that we roll up our sleeves and make the tough financial decisions needed to keep Elgin on the right track. I have a strong work ethic, the financial knowledge and the business experience needed to successfully navigate this city through the tough times ahead. My main priority will be to utilize my professional experience to ensure that the city of Elgin best uses its financial resources to maintain its roads, fund public works, protect its citizens and strategically plan for future growth and development. We need to apply our best business practices to city planning to ensure all core services are maintained while scaling back expenditures in these troubled financial times.Key Issue 2 With Building a Better Elgin, the second most crucial block is the foundation of solid economic development. The most important issue facing Elgin, as well as almost all families and businesses, is the economy. My family and most of the people I know are increasingly looking for ways to do more with less. I want to continue to ensure the city Of Elgin has the same sense of motivation. The city of Elgin needs strong leadership to make the tough choices today#151;choices to ensure that we will stay strong during these challenging economic times. I have been a leader in our business community and with the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce, helping, among other things, to create an environment ripe for bringing new jobs to Elgin. Cultivating our community with the right economic development platform and resources has reaped the benefit of many new companies settling in Elgin with a multitude of quality high paying jobs. Siemens, Suzlon, Fabric Images, Sherman Hospital and Mazak Optonics represent new businesses or major expansions of businesses, all of which have helped create new jobs. Other benefits of continuing our positive economic initiatives are the new revenue streams generated by those businesses that reduce the tax burden for Elgin residents. Walmart, McGrath Honda, and Kia of Elgin will produce millions of dollars of tax revenue that will not come from pockets of our residents.Key Issue 3 The third building block of Building a Better Elgin is the core services all residents expect. The city of Elgin is responsible for basic core services to the residents and businesses. While the city council has trimmed down the city's budget to meet financial obstacles, the city has maintained and improved the core services. Elgin streets have continued to be cleared of snow and debris in a timely fashion. The fire and police departments are the best in the area, serving our residents tirelessly. If re-elected, I will continue to ensure our core services continue to excel, embrace new technology and find new ways to complete their tasks more efficiently. I have supported the Reduction in Force initiatives that, along with comprehensive benefit reform, has saved the city millions dollars. During the two years I#146;ve served on the city council, the union and non-union workforce has agreed to significant reductions in compensation. During my time on the council, the city has taken a holistic approach to streetscape projects---not only repaving, but curb and gutter replacement, tree planting, and signage have been completed in a sidewalk-to-sidewalk approach. We have been very successful in working with private partners securing grants such as the $1.8M Forestry grant allowing us to reinvest in our aging tree inventory and plant more than 700 trees in 2010.Questions Answers What prompted you to run for this office? What makes you the best candidate for the job?In my mind, being part of a community means more than simply living side by side with others. It means living through one another and for another. I believe in Elgin. This is a wonderful community. Sometimes we don#146;t always see it, but I encourage people to look a little bit harder. When we look closer, we see a city well worth living in. I am passionate about Elgin's past, present and future. On a professional level, I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Involvement in running a business, which means understanding profit and loss statements and balance sheets, has provided me with valuable, real-world knowledge. This knowledge has helped in making me an effective leader on the City Council. I have a strong work ethic, the financial knowledge and the business experience needed to successfully navigate this city through the tough times ahead economically. My main priority is to use my leadership and experience to ensure the city of Elgin is fiscally responsible through this challenging financial storm. I have shared my proven leadership skills, business experience and passion with my colleagues on the Elgin City Council. I have been a constant voice for fiscal responsibility and a strong supporter of reducing excess spending. It is extremely important to ensure that our core services of police, fire, emergency management and public works are fully funded. Those Department Heads need to embrace new technology and opportunities to make them more cost effective and productive. I would continue to encourage collaborative efforts with county, state and federal agencies, thus ensuring that we are taking full advantage of all the resources available to us. How will you deal with declining revenue, particularly in the riverboat fund?New Riverboat proceeds for 2011 are budgeted at $16.5 million. That represents a 38% decrease in proceeds from 2008 levels. A 35% reduction in proceeds is budgeted for the years 2012-2015. There are 77 initiatives funded through the Riverboat and Riverboat Lease funding the 2011 budget. These initiatives range from agency, special events and commission funding like the Community Crisis Center Toy giveaway, Public Action to Deliver Shelter, Elgin Public Museum, Pace Bus service and youth scholarships. Also funded from this source are the Historic Architectural Restoration grants, equipment replacement, neighborhood street resurfacing, Multi Family Deconversion grants, ROPE House Rehab, Senior Tax Rebate and others. The initiatives that are funded from this source invest millions of dollars back into our neighborhoods and infrastructure improvements. This issue will be one that the community will need to have input on. Elginites have come to expect a multitude of grant opportunities available to them. They expect that the local museums, Boys and Girls Club and Youth Scholarships will be available to our youth and community. Residents also expect to have new roads and infrastructure improvements without paying a vehicle sticker fee (which is also funded through the Riverboat). The community will need to be an active participant in the conversations of how we allocate our more limited resources in the future. My feeling is that the limited resources should be allocated in the future to more infrastructure type investments like new equipment, roads, neighborhood grants and safety-sensitive projects.How well has the city addressed the issue of illegal immigration? Has it done what's appropriate or is there more to do? Please offer specifics.The city of Elgin is not in the business of guarding our borders. As a city councilman, I will do everything in my power to ensure our families are safe and our streets are free from crime. The Elgin Police Department needs to utilize all of the state and federal resources available to identify criminals who are here illegally. In the past two years, I have seen the city of Elgin do more to address the illegal immigration issue than in the previous years. The city's legal department has audited at least five private contractors that have been awarded contracts. These audits are paid for by the company being audited. These audits ensure that the contractors are in compliance with employing legal residents, among other things. All of them have come back in compliance. The police department has conducted several special sweeps that have removed hundreds of criminals who had warrants out for their arrest. The police department also has checked in on known sex offenders and parole violators. The Elgin police worked collaboratively with federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies, including the Immigration Customs and Enforcement team (ICE). In the most recent sweep, more than 80 offenders were caught, including seven ICE arrests. The Elgin Police Department needs to continue to support other agencies and leverage their resources to keep our community safe.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to? Does the city need to reprioritize the funds it puts toward municipal projects? Non-profits?Fiscal responsibility is a critical building block as we build a better Elgin. The most important issue facing Elgin and nearly all of our local families and businesses is the economy. My family and most of the people I know are increasingly looking for ways to do more with less. I want to continue to ensure that the city Of Elgin has the same motivation. The city of Elgin needs strong leadership to make the tough choices today, thus ensuring that we stay strong during these challenging economic times and beyond. I have made the tough choices that have led to the city of Elgin scaling back its workforce, lowering the budget by more than $4 million and renegotiating workforce contracts with rate freezes over the last two years. The community will need to engage in a conversation as to how to best allocate our limited resources, not only in the Riverboat Funds but the general fund as well. The city needs to embrace new technologies, which will help make all departments more efficient and find ways to innovate. From using less paper in the copiers to manufacturing and marketing salt brine to other local communities are recent success stories. Another success story is utilizing multiple salt domes throughout the city to get the snow removed from the streets quicker and at a lower cost. But we need more success stories. There are other efficiencies to be uncovered and more expense-reduction initiates to be identified and implemented. I would like to see us allocate the results of these success stories into our neighborhoods and public safety, as well as in economic development. What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I believe one thing that has not reached its full potential for the city is embracing public-private partnership opportunities. While the city will have to do more with less, it still has to meet the same high expectations residents rightly demand. To achieve this goal, the city will need to partner with service clubs, community and neighborhood groups, as well as other government entities and, of course, the private sector. In many cases, the private sector will have better resources to handle certain aspects of city services. The most visible of these is the contract with Waste Management. WM picks up the recycling and trash weekly. That is a service that our residents expect, but the city does not need to own the trucks and allocate the manpower needed to accomplish this service. In this case, the private sector can actually provide the service more efficiently. I believe there are other public-private partnership opportunities to be uncovered. Another example is the outsourcing of cul de sac snowplowing. The City and residents receive the benefit of saving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and have the snow removed in a more timely and efficient manner. Another example is at Lords Park, where an engaged group of citizens, city council, and city staff worked together to create a long term plan for the park. The plan includes having the community raise funds, utilizing volunteers, partnering with city resources to keep one of our most historic parks a resource for generations to come. I believe an engaged citizenry leads to an engaged government. When no one points a finger and everyone lends a hand, our city can accomplish great things.