Geoffrey Petzel: 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: Lake ZurichWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lake Zurich Village Board (4-year Terms)Age: 30Family: Married- Wife MelissaOccupation: Sales, Maine Plastics Inc Owner, Union Property GroupEducation: BS Public Administration BS Public FinanceCivic involvement: Board Member, Friends of the Fox RiverElected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 The number one issue in Lake Zurich is economic development. A simple drive around town demonstrates the lack of progress our staff and elected officials have made over the last four years. The downtown has no new projects- just empty lots and vacant buildings. High profile properties like the former K-Mart and Omega restaurant sites remain vacant. I watched this fall as our Village Board had 3 different downtown development proposals from several highly qualified developers put in front of them. These proposals to bring new apartments, condos, restaurants and retail were ALL rejected by our Village Board because a consensus could not be reached on which proposal was the best. That lack of action by our Village Board is the reason I have decided to seek a seat on the Village Board. After ten years and millions of dollars since we started the downtown redevelopment process , it is time to take bold action to bring new downtown development. We must bring new development before the debt we have incurred swallows our budget and forces tax increases on our residents. I will work every day to bring new development and the new tax revenue that comes with it to Lake Zurich.Key Issue 2 The number 2 issue for Lake Zurich is the budget. Our current Village Board has consistently operated without a budget or without a balanced budget. That is simply unacceptable. The Board has also failed to properly budget for improvements to our water and sewer system. This lack of proper planning has led to significant increases in water and sewer rates as well as depleted capital improvement reserve funds. I will work to create a balanced budget that maintains reserves for capital improvements and limits any impacts to Village services. With increasing budget pressure from state mandated pension funding requirements as well as increasing debt payments from downtown development expenditures, our budget forecast is likely to get worse before it gets better. The only solution will be to grow our revenue stream to cover the increasing expenses. This can be accomplished by bringing new development to Lake Zurich. New retail, restaurants and residential units increase our tax base. Downtown development as well as filling vacant stores like K-Mart and the Omega restaurant will bring new sales tax revenue and remove vacant eyesores from our community. Only by improving our economic development approach will we be able ease the increasing budget difficulties without raising taxes on our residents. Tax increases should be a last resort.Key Issue 3 The number 3 issue for Lake Zurich is water. In 2011 the Village of Lake Zurich received an allocation for Lake Michigan water. This important allocation provides Lake Zurich an opportunity to connect to Lake Michigan water. This allocation is critical as many studies show that local groundwater supplies are being pumped at an unsustainable rate. One study shows that our wells will no longer be able to support our water needs in 18 years or less. In addition to water supply issues, Lake Zurich has very poor water quality. In fact, for a number of years Lake Zurich exceeded US EPA safe drinking water standards for radium, a known carcinogen. While the Village invested significant resources to reduce the radium to safe levels, it is expected that treatment costs will continue to rise. I believe that we should invest in connecting to Lake Michigan water. Lake Michigan water will guaranty our water supply and provide much higher quality water then we currently receive from our municipal wells. A proposal to connect to Lake Michigan water will not be inexpensive, but I believe this investment is important for our community, our property values and our health.Questions Answers What is your position on what needs to be done to jump-start downtown redevelopment and how soon does this need to get happen?I feel like the Village Board has neglected their responsibility when it comes to downtown redevelopment. While we can all understand that development is slower and more difficult in the current economy, there is no excuse for the recent actions of the Village Board. When they were presented with three different development proposals for the downtown area they rejected all three. Now they want to begin a new process to qualify developers for the downtown area. Why? We had an opportunity to develop a downtown condo/apartment building with street level retail and restaurants. Thenew? process the Village Board wants to begin will take 6-12 months and bring us right back to where we were in the fall when 3 different proposals were rejected. We need to stop repeating our past failures and move forward. We no longer can afford to wait. If I am elected I will request that the developers who previously submitted plans re-submit their plans and that the Board choose one to move forward with. I would also recommend an expedited approval process. Downtown development can proceed immediately, but only if the Village Board decides to make a it a priority. Planning is not the issue- we have spent millions on planning. Developer interest is not an issue- we have three developers that want to build in downtown Lake Zurich. The problem is the lack of vision and leadership on the Village Board. We need new people who are dedicated to moving things forward. I believe I can be a force for change on the Village Board on the issue of economic development.What are your views on any kind of financial incentives to attract future development? Do you have any concerns about offering breaks in the wake of those recently received by the developer of Mariano?s?I believe that economic incentives have a very important role in economic development. I would support providing economic incentives to developers of unique projects or projects that would otherwise not happen without those incentives. As an example, I would support providing incentives to redevelop the former K-Mart property and cover necessary demolition costs. The new tax revenue generated from the development must justify the incentives. While I understand that the developer of Mariano's said that the project would not be possible if the incentives were not provided, I do not believe they were actually necessary. When a developer looks at a property they look at issues like access. They know on day one of their planning that a traffic light or turn lanes will be needed. Additionally, when a tenant like McDonalds agrees to locate on a property it means the property is absolutely a prime development site. Such a prime development site should be able to be developed without incentives. I believe that Lake Zurich may have given incentives to develop a property that would have been developed without incentives.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed? Conversely, is there something that should be reinstated or have resources directed toward?Over the last several years, Lake Zurich has continued to operate on a very limited budget. Based on the current budget projections the budget cut options are very limited. There are really only 2 options besides large tax increases- to cut staffing levels or to reduce the amount of our pension payments to the police and fire pension funds. Neither are good options. The current pension funding requirements have increased significantly due to a number of issues. Those issues include insufficient funding by past boards and changes by the state legislature that put significantly larger burdens on local communities. These changes by the state legislature require the Village to make annual contributions and tomake up? for underfunding in the past. I would suggest that we continue to make the required annual contribution so the pensions fund balances do not decrease, but without themake-up? portion of the payment. This will prevent it from being necessary to lay off public safety workers and still ensure a sustainable pension fund. If we do this, we must take a leadership role in demanding that the state legislature act on pension reform now. I think that with our current budget issues we will be limited to what we can fund, but I would like to put more funds into our sewer, water and public works capital reserve funds. As our infrastructure ages, our maintenance costs will rise. The more we defer this maintenance the more our future costs will rise making our future budget deficits even deeper.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I would like to see the Village of Lake Zurich respond more efficiently to citizen requests or complaints. When I have called the Village in the past with concerns about code violations, potholes or even water main breaks, the response time has been very slow or non-existent. I have heard that same concern from several of my neighbors. I would like to see the Village create a dedicated phone number for citizen complaints/concerns and make it a policy that all issues are responded to within 24 hours. If a citizen calls about a pothole, the pothole should be fixed within 24 hours. I also believe the Police department could be cross-trained to identify code violations, pot holes, or other issues and report them to the proper department at the end of each shift. Since our Police are on the streets every day, they can be a significant resource beyond normal law enforcement activities and help in increasing the efficiency of our limited staff.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.When I talk with members of the community I never hear complaints about our police or fire departments. I believe that our public safety professionals do an exceptional job protecting our community. The biggest public safety complaint I hear is related to the quality of our drinking water. I often hear neighbors talk about their concern that Lake Zurich's drinking water quality is very poor. Unfortunately, in Lake Zurich, perception is reality. The Village is plagued with high levels of radium in our drinking water. Radium exposure in high doses or for long periods of time is known to cause cancer. While the Village has taken steps in recent years to reduce radium levels to legal limits, it is still present in our drinking water. I strongly support connecting to Lake Michigan water to provide our residents with a safe and reliable drinking water source.