Robert L. Bragg, 4 years: 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: CaryWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Cary Village board, 4-year termAge: 53Family: Married to my wife Nancy for 20 years 1 Child Courtney 19 she attends Eastern Illinois UniversityOccupation: SalesEducation: High School Graduate from Fremd High School Palatine IL.Civic involvement: I have been involved with Cary Basketball Association for 9years serving as league director/gym director/President of the organaztion and now Director of Referee's.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Candidate did not respond.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Work with our staff to aggressively pursue development that make sense for the village of Cary, More resturants, shops, maybe a hotel. We need to strengthen our tax base and not tax our residents out of their homes. Most importantly keep our small town family orientated community.Key Issue 2 The board's obligation and loyalty is to its residents. I will continue to work to improve and promote public safety throughout our community. To be successful in fighting crime the village will need to get our community involved in a joint effort of ""Prevention"". One of my main concerns and focus would be adding more police officers, this would need to be done without raising taxes and keeping within our budget constraints.Key Issue 3 I will work closely with staff to improve our working relationship with our local and neighboring governing bodies which would also help in building our tax base thru networking and good business relationships. I will work to create a more transparent and open government.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I have 16 plus years of construction knowledge and over 18 years of hotel management experience along with experience understanding how the village of Cary functions. My community volunteerism, community activities, serving as President of Cary Basketball Association, along with the strong desire to servie its citizens has provided the leadership necessary to make decisions based on the facts and the needs of our community. I will take a common sense approach on all desisions for the best quality of life possible.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 feel the current Village of Cary's tax rate is inline to accomplish its needs to fund the services needed for the residents. I am opposed to any tax increase's in this ecconmic time.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.The biggest concern I hear is the gang issues we have throughout our community. To be successful in fighting crime the village will need to get our community involved thru ""Prevention"" to resolve and promote other activities and social events, to get our kids involved within our community. Add more police officers and patrols, Neighborhood Watch Programs, and general awareness to the public.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?Balanced budgets are a must in these economic times. I do believe we should allocate more to the police department for training, patrol officers and a full-time liasion splitting the officers time between the High School and Junior High which will help with the gang and drug issues.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?We have riverfront property on the east side of Cary that is not being utilized. It would be nice to take advantage of it in some manner of a park of some sort.