Robert L. Strusz: 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: N.AuroraWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: North Aurora Village boardAge: 49Family: Married with 4 childrenOccupation: Service ManagerEducation: High SchoolCivic involvement: North Aurora Lions Club 6 yrsNorth Aurora Baseball 15 yrsFriday Nite Spot / Teen Center 18 yrsNorth Aurora Days 8 yrsNorth Aurora Planning Commission 3yrsElected offices held: North Aurora Village Trustee 2007-PresentTanner Trails HOA 2009-2011Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continue to aggressively pursue commercial development to relieve residents of a portion of the tax burden.Balancing commercial and residential growthKey Issue 2 Continue to over see the North Aurora Activity Center to keep the centers revenues exceeding its expenses. The last 3 years this has been accomplished.Key Issue 3 To keep the Village in good financial shape. To watch our spending but still be able to take care of our day to day operational needs.Questions Answers Is it time for the village to hire a village administrator again, or is the setup with President Dale Berman working fine? Explain. What are the advantages and disadvantages?The Village President acting as Village Administrator is working fine. I get the best communication as to what is happening and the staff get quick feedback from the board through the Village President. We are saving considerable with the Village President acting as administrator. It should continue to work well as long as the Village President can put in the time necassary. I see no disadvantages.Should the village proceed with remodeling the old police station into expanded space for village administration? Explain.The North wing of the North Aurora Village Hall is vacant from the departure of the North Aurora Police Department. The North Aurora Village Hall acts as a headquarters for Village operations and should be made functional. At present, the issues facing the current Village include, But not limited to the following.1) Outdated mechanical system causing consistant temperature fluctuations creating an uncontrolled environment.2)Plumbing/bathrooms are insufficient for the number of staff members working in the Village Hall and for those who come to use the public bathrooms.3)The electric wiring is outdated causing staff to continually purchase sure protection devices,deal with overload, and occasionally lose productivity as a result of outages.4) A number of areas throughout the building are not ADA accessible5) There are no fire sprinkler system within the building6)There is no adequate meeting space for business meetings7)There is consistant flooding in the basement of Village Hall, sometimes minor,other times major. This has caused major damage to fills with must be held due to statutory mandates.It#146;s been said spiffing up downtown is nearly impossible because many property owners don#146;t seem to care about participating because their rentals make money as they are. What would you do, if anything?I have not heard this reason before, that rentals are making money,that is interesting!1)Explore finacing options through the state and federal govt for utility line burial.2)Continue with the construction of sidewalks along Rt31 using TIF funds and requiring they be built with new contruction. This will make the corridor more pedestrian friendly.3)Continue with the various TIF Facade and redevelopment agreements as a function of the increment expected to be generated by the subject property 4) reform the TIF District business advisory group.Why should or shouldn't people be allowed to keep a limited amount of hen chickens in their backyards?This is something the Village board has not had in front of us yet but Im sure in time this will be presented to us by a resident of the Village: I guess my question or concerns would be:1)Existing Village code.2) Home Owner Association rules.3)Concerns about noise,smell of vermin.4)Attraction of larger praying animals.5) The building of the coops in the yards of residents.6) Six foot fences will be ness. to hold the chickens.I have heard the other side too:1) Research shows fresh eggs from chickens are low in cholesterol.2)Its nearly impossible to find a bug in lawns of back yards that have chickens. I guess the Village will learn as surrounding town begin to look into this and we will make our decision when that time comes.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one else is talking about?That idea has not come to me yet. Every Idea I get or have I share with the Mayor, Staff and the Village board.