Phillip A. Luetkehans: 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: WheatonWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Wheaton parksAge: 47Family: Married. Two children ages 17 and 13.Occupation: Attorney. Schirott, Luetkehans GarnerEducation: Bachelor of Arts, University of Notre Dame, 1985Juris Doctorate, Loyola University, 1988Civic involvement: Soccer Coach, Wheaton Fire Juniors.Coach, Wheaton Park District.Hubble Steering Committee Member.Elected offices held: Wheaton Park District Commissioner, 2007-2011Wheaton Park Distict President, 2008-2010Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Keeping the Wheaton Park District financially strong. We have continuously strived over the past 4 years to make all of our programs as economically viable as possible. We have made Arrowhead Golf Course, Restaurant and Banquet Facility profitable, even after paying off the debt service on the improvements to the property.Key Issue 2 Being able to continue providing services and facilities to our constituents at reasonable rates. This includes making sure that we maintain and where necessary acquire the necessary facilities without placing a greater burden on the taxpayers. The old Hubble Middle School site is a large part of the Park District's ability to meet this task. A cooperative solution should be reached allowing the Park District to use the flood plain property and the gyms while allowing the remainder of the site to be commercially developed and placed on the tax roles for the first time in memory.Key Issue 3 That we should continue as a Park District to work cooperatively with other governmental agencies as we have done in the past to provide services in the most economical manner to the public. A couple of examples are where we were able to enter into Intergovernmental Agreements with the Forest Preserve District and the County of DuPage in relationship to the Lucent site and the County Museum. In both these instances, the Park District has aided the other governmental agency while cutting costs and providing additional services to the public.Questions Answers What programs aren#146;t paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?All of the programs at the Park District are set up to pay for themselves. We have instituted a Leisureship Program to assist low income families in ensuring that those people going through hard economic times can still participate in our programs. We have had a great amount of assistance in obtaining this by partnering with other groups in the area.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.The biggest open space issue right now concerns the possible loss of the green space at the old Hubble Middle School. Hopefully, a cooperative solution can be reached to continue to allow this land to remain open space and to be utilized by the public and the many programs that currently use those 10 plus acres that sit in the flood plain.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?The largest unmet recreational need is for in an indoor pool according to the surveys the Park District has completed. Currently, there is no plans to build such a pool. However, the old Hubble site could be used for such a pool in the future. Any such pool would probably be built with profits from other programs or the profits from Arrowhead Golf Course. Such an effort in my mind would have to wait until the Park District had a plan to spend the money without raising taxes.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?Absolutely. I have previously asked the Park District staff to look at whether there are ways to combine the use of maintenance vehicles, etc with the City of Wheaton and other governmental agencies. We have previously combined resources to solve flooding problems on North Main Street with the Northside Park redevelopment. I would strongly support anything that can be done to create more efficiencies and save taxpayer money.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.I played a leadership role in, among other things, the following accomplishments: (1) obtaining the use of the Lucent Property from the Forest Preserve District for additional ballfields; (2) making Arrowhead Golf Course profitable while improving service; (3) redeveloping Northside Park project that had been laying dormant for 20 years; (3) instituted Master Plan and Long Range Plan and quarterly review of staff projects; (4) cut staffing levels while not decreasing service to the customers; (5) instituted Leisureship Program to assist low income families participate in Park District programs; and (6) ensured transparency and professionalism in my role as President.