Gayle Smolinski: 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: RoselleWebsite: http://www.mayorsmolinski.comOffice sought: Roselle Village President (4-year Term)Age: 60Family: Husband, Don--married 37 years Three grown daughters: Michelle, Denise and Carolyn Three grandchildren: Ryan, Grace and LilaOccupation: Mayor, Village of Roselle Former journalist for Voice newspapersEducation: Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Bowling Green State UniversityCivic involvement: Regional: Executive Board member and past-President, Du Page Mayors and Managers Conference Executive Board member and past Chairman, Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus Board member, 100 Club of Du Page County Board member, Metropolis Strategies Former Board member of the American Cancer Society Local: Advisory Board, Stepping Stones for Women of Domestic Violence Member, Roselle American Legion Post 1084 Women's Auxiliary Former member and past-President of the Friends of the Roselle LibraryElected offices held: Village Trustee, January 1986 to April 1993 Mayor, April 1993 to presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NOCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Finalize our fiscal sustainability plan, which we began as we dealt with the downturn in the economy. It is a three-pronged approach: cut, grow and protect. As do most municipalities in Illinois, Roselle has to deal with a new reality regarding revenues versus the services our residents desire. While we were never a government with excess staff, we are evaluating all the services we deliver and the way in which we deliver them. Once we complete our studies, we can decide if we have an appropriate level of service for the revenues we collect. The second part of the fiscal stability plan is to aggressively work to grow our economy. Each restaurant we attract to Roselle contributes between $30,000 to $100,00 in revenues to our operating fund. Bringing more restaurants to our community is something I believe our community wants and will support. The last component of our fiscal stability plan is to continue working to protect local revenues from the state. The local property taxes Roselle receives each year ($4.8 million) don't cover the cost of police services. We also rely on fines, fees, vehicle stickers and state-shared funds such as income and sales tax. As the state deals with its financial problems, it often looks to lessening the amount it shares with us, or taking the revenues away. If these revenues were lessened or eliminated, it would cripple our ability to pay the personnel costs to deliver our basic services. I join other Mayors in Springfield as I fight to keep these revenues intact.Key Issue 2 Even though our downtown residential development is full, and the storefronts are about 70% occupied, I know there is a frustration at not having this area filled with restaurants and shopping opportunities. My goal is to have a thriving downtown as a place Roselle residents can bring their families to, for dining, shopping and entertainment. We have been working to attract new businesses and I am excited for the opening of a Japanese/Chinese/Sushi restaurant this spring, located at Prospect and Main, providing another dining option downtown. The owner plans to add windows and a doorway on the west wall, with the opportunity for outdoor seating on the plaza. The addition of a pergola will enhance the look of the building. We are also proactively marketing Village owned property on Irving Park, west of Prospect, with a broker having many local successes. In the past we were busy building our new downtown. Now we need direct involvement, to bring economic development downtown--and to our other targeted growth areas.Key Issue 3 I want to see the unincorporated areas on Lake Street cleaned up from all the questionable uses that currently exist. This is one of the prime areas for future development for Roselle. To begin this task, I am hosting a meeting with the Mayors of Bloomingdale and Hanover Park and envision crafting a consolidated plan for development through our towns. We all work well together and are positive about advancing this idea. I believe this is an opportunity to work collaboratively--setting zoning and land uses that are consistent through the whole corridor and then supporting each other in our attempts to spur on development. While many of these parcels are not in our Villages, we do have the right and responsibility to plan for the future and how we ultimately want this corridor to look. Having a unified guideline will allow us to accomplish this goal.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Leadership, experience and passion for this position. Since I have been on the Village Board, we have had 22 different trustees as members. Each new person changes the Board dynamic and it is my job to bring us together to continue the work of our residents. I have done this successfully since I was first elected. Serving as Mayor is no longer a "part-time job" to be handled on week day nights and a few hours Saturday morning. The Mayor needs to meet with residents, business owners and developers on their timetables. I don't work at any other job that would take my focus away from this. Our issues go beyond the challenges we face within our borders. The Mayor needs to understand what regional and state issues impact our Village and work with other Mayors, township and County officials and our Senators and Representatives to make sure our voice is heard. This includes trips to Springfield many times while the General Assembly is in session. I have built relationships with all these officials and have the experience to know what our issues are and how to lobby for them. I don't consider this a job because I have the same passion for being Mayor as I did the first time I was sworn in. I consider that our residents have entrusted me to keep Roselle the safe, family oriented and caring community that it was when I took this office, while growing our economy and changing our look to keep it modern and relevant. I am honest about our challenges and how we deal with them and am not afraid to make a difficult or unpopular decision if I believe it is in the best interests of the community as a whole.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.Roselle is a non-home rule community, meaning we only have the powers that are given to us by the State. One of those restrictions involves the amount of local sales tax we can levy. It is 1%, while the majority of our surrounding communities (Hanover Park, Bloomingdale, Schaumburg and Elk Grove) levy much higher local sales taxes because they have home-rule status. I do think there is some room to raise this local tax, if we were able to have the opportunity. However, I would first want to study our surrounding communities to make sure we were still under our neighbors taxes so we could keep our competitive advantage.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.We have two public safety concerns: one that we will handle with public education and one with which our residents can help themselves. We have a growing heroin use problem in Du Page County and Roselle is not immune. It effects our young adults, roughly 20-29 years of age. Heroin is cheap and easily accessible, most of it coming from the west side of Chicago. Because of HIPPA privacy laws, we don't have exact numbers, but officials do recognize the epidemic. I directed our police department to put together a public information night for our community. Our high school resource officers worked with Lake Park staff and that information night will be Wednesday, March 20. We need the help of parents, relatives and friends to reach out to young adults in trouble and I believe that the more information we share, the better our community will be able to deal with it. We have also seen an uptick in car burglaries in our town. These are crimes of opportunity and the majority of these crimes involve unlocked cars left in residents' driveways. This is an easily preventable crime--if you are leaving your car out overnight, hide or take out any valuable items and lock it, even if it is in your driveway.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?This question lays out a premise that we have done nothing with our budget, so we need to begin now. Roselle felt the downturn of the economy in 2009, with a million dollar shortfall in revenues in our operating fund. That fund contains all the personnel costs, plus the expenses of operating a 24-7 service organization. We have worked each year, in a deliberative and thoughtful manner, to reduce that shortfall. We have eliminated 21 positions, or 20% of our workforce with minimal impact to the services we deliver. I am pleased that out of a $14 million operating budget, with $3 million in reserves, we predict a $56,000 shortfall in 2013, partially because of a unanimous decision by the Village Board to include another study of Village services in either Police or Public Works, to see if there is any more room to cut our expenses. As each of these studies are completed, we will have a better understanding of what areas, if any, might be understaffed.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I would like to establish a giving foundation, funded through one-time or continued donations, to pay for items beyond our budget capabilities. These items can range from something decorative and ornamental to restoring a program or buying equipment on our "want", but not "need" list.