Sam Lissner: 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: Elk Grove VillageWebsite: http://www.samlissner.comOffice sought: Elk Grove Village Village boardAge: 68Family: Married, 1 married daughter, 2 grandchildrenOccupation: Retired from Sargent Lundy (Engineers), Manager of ServicesEducation: Masters of Business Administration, Keller Graduate School of Management (1984)Bachelor of Applied Behavioral Science, National Louis University. (1980)2 Associate Degrees, Harper Community CollegeCivic involvement: Queen of the Rosary ParishKnights of ColumbusQueen of the Rosary Men's ClubElk Grove Village Sister CitiesFriends of HarperFox Run Golf LeagueMead PTAElected offices held: Harper Community College Trustee, 1986-1987 (appointed)School District 59 Board of Education,1987-1995Elk Grove Village Trustee, 1995-presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Support Business growth to keep our Business Park and commercial centers successful. Our businesses provide jobs for our residents and people from outside of the village. Sales taxes are generated that provide for the services needed by residents and businesses. The approximately 100,000 workers in our business park also generate sales taxes that keep Elk Grove Village with one of the lowest property taxes in Northwest suburban Cook County. I am co-chair of the Industrial Commercial Revitalization Commission (ICRC) which is comprised of community leaders in the public and private sectors. The ICRC provides recommendations on improvements to be made to maintain the success of the Business Park and commercial areas. Since the ICRC began in 1998, the Village has invested over $50 million in improvements to the Business Park.Key Issue 2 I will continue to vote against raising fees or taxes for residents and businesses during these difficult economic times. There have been signs of improvement to the economy but there are still too many people unemployed and too many empty buildings in the Business Park and empty stores in commercial centers. The recent State income tax increase for individuals and businesses may be a serious blow to the economic recovery in our area.Key Issue 3 Listen to concerns from residents and businesses. I always get back to anyone who contacts me and I keep an open mind to understand their concern. My new website that is under construction will contain a different survey question every few weeks to get additional feedback. This feature will remain active after the April election.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I feel any elected official must be a public servant and not a politician. I encourage all residents and businesses to contact me if they feel they need my assistance. I spend many hours a day to keep myself abreast of issues and looking for solutions to community problems. I read local and out of state newspapers daily to find out what is happening in other communities and solutions that they are implementing. Most important is I am eager to get input from residents and businesses to find out what issues they are most concerned about.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 our sales tax is about right but like most people I would like to have seen it lower when Cook County increased their portion of the sales tax. Elk Grove has a 1% sales tax on general merchandise and a 1% sales tax on prepared food and alcoholic beverages. The overall sales tax is 10.5% except on qualifying food, medicine and medical appliances. The 10.5% and is broken down as follows: State 6.25%, Village 1%, Cook County 1.75%, RTA 1% . The total sales tax for general merchandise is 9.5% and a total of 10.5% on prepared food and alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, the State has been very slow in passing on Elk Grove#146;s portion of the sales tax. One of our State Representatives agrees that the Village should not have to wait 4, 5 or 6 months to get their fair share of tax revenues and has made it a priority to get the State to make timely payments.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.Automobiles speeding on residential streets. People I have spoken with are most concerned about the safety of children in their neighborhood. The problem is even worse during road construction season when some motorists cut through neighborhoods to bypass traffic congestion on arterial streets. The village has had police presence in neighborhoods but there are too many miles of streets and not enough police to keep a constant presence. A police speed trailer (tells motorists how fast they are going) is temporarily placed in neighborhoods that report problems to alert drivers how fast they are going.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?Elk Grove has been reducing costs for several years. Our major cost is personnel and staff size has been reduced through attrition. During our current fiscal year, Elk Grove Village employees voluntarily accepted no pay increase. This allowed the village to provide no cut in services to residents and businesses. As our village is getting older, underground water and sewer lines need upgrading. Fortunately, the village has taken advantage of proceeds from Build America Bonds to complete many infrastructure projects at low cost during the slow economic recovery. This work will continue during 2011 and may also be creating private jobs.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Start a DARE 2 program - D.A.R.E.(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) has been taught in the Elk Grove schools since the mid 1980s. Specially trained Elk Grove Police Officers teach this 10 week course to 6th graders. So far, over 10,000 Elk Grove students have graduated from this program. The program emphasizes building self-esteem, consequences of behavior, and methods to resist temptations to use drugs. I would like to see the Village work with local High Schools to provide a DARE 2 program for sophomores or juniors and gear it for older students. We have to do whatever we can to reinforce the problems caused by drugs including alcohol.