James Dietz: 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: Round LakeWebsite: http://www.communitycommitment.orgOffice sought: Round Lake Mayor (4-year Term)Age: 62Family: Widower, four children,five grandchildrenOccupation: Licensed Illinois Professional Land Surveyor, 1978 Dietz Surveying, Inc., Round Lake, ILEducation: Associates of Applied Science, Civil Technology, CLC, 1978Civic involvement: Membership in: McHenry Moose Lodge #691 Board of Directors for the Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Foundation McHenry Moose Lodge #691 Former member Lake County Contractors Association Former Round Lake Area Girls Softball coachElected offices held: Village of Round Lake Village President May 2009 to Present Past President Northeast Chapter of Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association. Leadership positions held: Village of Round Lake Planning and Zoning Board 1987-1994, Chairman 1989-1994.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continue the focus on Fiscal Responsibility while maintaining the village infrastructure and the best village services that we can afford, including using competitive bidding for goods and services when appropriate. This can be accomplished by setting policy and allowing our department heads to respond without interference.Key Issue 2 We need to be Proud of our Past while Creating a sustainable path for our future development needs through responsible planning.Key Issue 3 We need to continue to work to create a Sense of Community throughout the village. The Home Town Fest was a start to involve the entire village in community functions. Any additional avenues to bring our various Round Lake Subdivisions together need to be explored to Unite the Village.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?As a Professional Land Surveyor I understand infrastructure planning and development from both community and developer sides. I believe in educating all parties on the issues to make sound informed decisions that are equitable for the community, the residents and businesses or developers. Over the last four years I have learned even more about the village infrastructure needs and have worked to improve maintenance practices and improvements to save money.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.The Village can always use additional sales tax revenue. Sales taxes typically are not a deterrent to business because they are only collected by the businesses and forwarded on to the taxing bodies for distribution. This can actually lessen the burden on the village residents if we can increase the number of businesses and prevent what is known as leakage of sales tax revenue outside of the village from residents spending their income in other municipalities, thus spreading the burden to non-residents as well.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.I believe vandalism and gang activity throughout our area are the biggest police related public safety concerns. Our police department works hard with other law enforcement agencies to keep crime under control. The hot topic of discussion currently is the proposed Groot Transfer Facility. We are working on setting up a presentation by Groot for our residents to educate them on the potential facility so they are better informed and we can follow up on feedback we then receive on how our residents want the village to respond for them.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?Our village has made cuts in spending over the last four years and we continue to try and maximize services as economically as possible. We have made some gain on vehicle maintenance costs. We do need to keep up with infrastructure maintenance so repair costs do not accelerate in the future. It is always a fine line to balance the needs and the funding.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?We need to enlist the help of our local Round Lake businessman with their experience in running large corporations and financial intuitions to help teach us how to attract new commercial growth. We have to be proactive not reactive, even in times where there appears not to be any activity.