Steve Chirico: 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: NapervilleWebsite: http://www.ChiricoForCouncil.comOffice sought: Naperville City councilAge: 50Family: I am married to my wife Julie and together we have a blended family of seven children and one grandson. Children: Lauren, Jenna, Dana, Tara, Austin, Jonathon Kayla. Grandson: BradenOccupation: I am a business owner and operator of the Great Western Flooring Company. Great Western Flooring has three locations: Naperville, St. Charles and Oswego. Great Western Flooring currently has 18 full time employees.Education: High School: Naperville Central- GraduateCollege: Northern Illinois University/University of Arkansas- 2 years Political Science majorCivic involvement: NCO Youth and Family Services: Board member two terms (6 years). I served on the Executive Board as Secretary for three years.Naperville Responds: Board member for one term. I served as the Secretary.FAST: Founding member and served as the President for one term.Naperville Builder Review Board: Served one three year term as the Chairman.Naperville SECA Board: Served one two year term as a member at large. I have been a member of the Naperville Chamber of Commerce for over 15 years.Elected offices held: NoneHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Economic Development- Naperville is a community that is very dependent on business tax revenues so it is critically important that a person with real business experience be on the council to help shape a properly balanced community. I will aggressively support the DNA, NDP, Choose DuPage and NACC on business development for Naperville. Sustainable revenues will afford the city the resources to maintain the high level of public education and city services the Naperville citizens have enjoyed for years. I have been a business leader in the community for over 25 years. I empower my employees and managers to take ownership of problems and find solutions and I do not micro-manage. I have the necessary skills to understand financial statements, internal controls, negotiating skills and other important learned skills required to properly run a business. I have had to successfully endure three economic downturns and I have the ability to reduce my expenses as needed to maintain a profitable business even in the case when my business experienced a 70% reduction in revenues. To that end, my company just received the 2010 Floor Covering Dealer of the Year from the Chicago Floorcovering Association.Key Issue 2 Leadership and Consensus Building. The current council has done a respectable job of navigating through a difficult time, but there is a noticeable void in leadership and consensus building. As a business owner I have had years of experience balancing the interests of customers, employees, suppliers and profits. This is a learned skill that requires good listening, good reasoning and the ability to see through the confusion and focus on the issues. I use thoughtful and defendable reasoning to find common ground to build a consensus, but most importantly, I treat people respectfully and courteously.To be a good consensus builder you must have broad vision and be a forward thinker; these are the keys to a long-term successful relationship. Having started my business from scratch and building it to a multi location retail business required the ability to stay focused on the daily operations and yet at the same time always have the vision to clearly see the entire operation. A broad vision enables me to see all of the moving parts in an operation and forward thinking allows me to replace the parts before they break.Key Issue 3 Green Energy- If early 1900 was the Industrial Age, late 1900 was the Digital Age and the turn of the century was the Information Age then the next era will most certainly be the Green Energy Age. I will use my interest and understanding of the renewable and green energy to help shape a more aggressive policy towards sustainable energy. I will work with local organizations to create a working plan which will give the Naperville citizens the ability to be a private energy producer. The smart grid was the first step towards the production of private energy. My vision is that in 20 years wind turbines and solar panels will be integrated right into the construction materials of most homes and electric cars will be the norm. But, to be a leader the city must begin planning for the infrastructure to support the energy revolution. We start by getting everyone to agree that being energy independent is a worthwhile objective. Then we court green energy companies to locate in Naperville and begin planning for our future.Questions Answers The city has slashed dozens of jobs in the last year in an attempt to balance the budget. Do you see more of this in the future?It is inevitable that Naperville will experience a budget shortfall again next year; however, I believe the staff levels are near about where they should be and further reductions will require unpopular cuts of city services. It is my hope that the city will focus in part on increased productivity to help balance the budget. Years of cuts create an environment of fear, and fear is generally not a productive work environment. An improved work environment will increase productivity and relieve some budget pressure without cutting services.Based on your experience as council member or mayor, are there any programs that you already know you would seek to eliminate if you were to be elected mayor?I am neither a council member or Mayor; however, if I were the Mayor, I would require the council to use far more discretion when requesting unimportant information from staff. Although cutting wasted staff time is technically not a 'program' cut, it would still produce sizable savings and set a good example of working efficiently. The amount of time wasted by staff on tracking and preparation of needless information is wasteful and a bad example. The council and the Mayor must first demonstrate efficient government if they expect the staff to do the same.What are your thoughts/concerns regarding the city creating a shuttle bus service to help seniors and others commute to and from the downtown and other popular locations?The city currently has a senior shuttle service called Ride DuPage. Ride DuPage is an intergovernmental program between the City of Naperville, The Naperville Park District, Lisle Township and Naperville Township and it is run by PACE. It provides shuttle service for seniors and people with disabilities at reduced fares. This program was just recently approved for funding for another year and in speaking to staff it appears to be a well used service. Beyond the Ride DuPage program, I do not feel there is an additional need for senior busing provided by the city because the current program appears to fill the need for independent transportation service for seniors and most of the retirement homes have private shuttle bus service available to transport their senior residents.The city recently purchased the site of the DuPage Children's Museum on the city's north side. Do you support leaving the museum in place or freeing up the potentially valuable real estate at the city's northern border for economic development?I support the DuPage Children's Museum remaining at this site at this time for the following reasons:1) The Children's Museum is an economic engine for the city. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors into Naperville.2) The city has plenty of other property it can develop without disrupting a worthy organization.3) The Children's Museum provides an important cultural amenity to Naperville. Unless a replacement facility is available, the museum should stay there.4) The purchase of the Children's Museum produced much needed additional commuter parking spaces.What can be learned from the furor over the city giving police officers 3 percent raises then enacting layoffs? How should the city deal with its unions? Should it agree to raises when it knows layoffs will be a result?The city learned that sometimes their timing is as important as their actions. In this case, had the city timed the layoffs after the budget workshops were complete, the layoffs may not have felt so retaliatory to the union. When dealing with the unions the city needs to make sure they make it clear up front of their intentions and their budget limitations. Further they need to protect themselves by making sure they can produce this information should it be needed. The city leadership#146;s conduct throughout the year will often times determine how union negotiations will proceed. It's important to be fair and consistent all of the time; not just during union negotiations. At the same time, the city should remain principled in their core values. The interest arbitration rules are such that the arbitrator cannot make a compromise judgment. This is referred to as baseball arbitration whereby the arbitrator must select the union's offer or the city's offer and nothing in between. As a result, there may be times when it's in the city's best interest to offer a salary increase that is beyond what they can afford in hopes that the arbitrator will agree with the city's offer as opposed to the even higher offer that the union requests. In other words the city is trying to cut their losses. When this occurs, the only other solution is to lay off employees. So unfortunately there are times when it is appropriate to agree to raises followed by a layoff.