Matt McCarthy: 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: Carol StreamWebsite: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/MattMccarthyForCarolStreamTrusteeOffice sought: Carol Stream Village Board (4-year Terms)Age: 44Family: Married with two Childern. Wife Linda, daughter Shannon and son ColinOccupation: Parts Facilities Mgr SNK America 1150 Feehanville Dr Mount Prospect, IL 60056Education: Candidate did not respond.Civic involvement: Youth Council Liason Carol Stream park District Baseball League Coordinator 2001-2008 Baseball Mgr 2001-2008 4th of July Parade Committee 2003-presentElected offices held: Trustee Village of Carol Stream 2003-PresentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: noCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 As our past actions have proven, being very conservative with our budget is the path we need to continue, spending money wisely while avoiding debt. To achieve this goal I believe we need to be very selective about adding any new programs or initiatives that do not have a dedicated funding source and staff time to administer them.Key Issue 2 Cooperation, compromise and communication are essential amongst ourselves, along with staff, other governmental bodies, businesses and, most importantly, our residents to keep our village safe, clean, updated and a place for residents and businesses alike to call home. One issue we need to continually focus on is property maintenance issues doing everything we can to keep our home values as high as possible. Buildings and homes in disrepair are detrimental to the community as a whole. Last year the village employed the services of an independent inspector who traveled throughout the village to document homes and businesses in need of repair. Those efforts resulted in courtesy letters being sent to property owners requesting them to make repairs before violations were ultimately issued.Key Issue 3 Our youth represents our future. Encouraging our younger residents to get involved in the community is one step in the right future. Our youth council is comprised of Carol Stream residents who attend various local high schools. They do a great job at giving our teenage residents a voice and a face. Growing the council to include representation of every high school that serves Carol Stream is an important step to enhance the council. One of my goals for my next term is finding ways to help other youth groups other than the youth council such as scouts, church groups, school groups, The Young Men's Service League, Parents and Teens Together, etc., find ways to make our village even better than it is. Teaching our next generation of adults how to work well together is a goal that I believe is very important.Questions Answers As a village board member, what steps will you recommend the village take to attract more business to town?We have worked hard to improve our image in the business community. Our permitting process has improved and the turnaround time has shortened. Continuing to streamline our processes and using a well thought out mix of sales tax incentives and village services will help our sales tax base continue to grow. We are able to sell our village on great schools, a good mix of housing, an award winning park district, an updated library system and a very active chamber and rotary club. We need to make sure we arecustomer friendly? while communicating with prospective and current businesses.Should Carol Stream have a village property tax? Why?I believe as long as we can live within our means, spend very conservatively, keep our sales tax base consistent and the state continues to pay us our local share of income tax without imposing any new unfunded mandates, there is absolutely no reason we should have a property tax in the foreseeable future. We try to save our residents money with programs like electric aggregation, working with our garbage hauler on recycling and working with other taxing bodies. The last thing I want to do is institute a property tax and take what we have saved them.What steps would you recommend the village take to combat flooding?We have already taken some steps locally. During the Glenbard North football field project, we worked with the high school to divert some stormwater in other directions and increased stormwater storage capacity that reduced flooding in the surrounding homes. We have worked with county, state and federal agencies to buy out four homes in the flood plain and replaced them with open land. We are currently working with the park district and DuPage County on a stormwarter project at Armstrong Park that will also help alleviate some flooding. We also need to continue to keep creeks and storm drains clear of branches, leaves and other debris.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.Our biggest ongoing concern would be drug use. With every new day comes some new form of synthetic drug or a cheaper form of a drug already on the streets. Keeping both kids and parents educated on what is out there, what signs to look for and where it comes from is a big step in keeping it controlled. While some may think our police department is heavy handed when it comes to traffic stops, they have turned some of those traffic stops into large drug arrests that have kept dealers and product off the street and away from our kids. D.A.R.E. is another way we can teach the kids at an early age to stay away from drugs and not to give in to peer pressure.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I would really like to investigate resource sharing with towns surrounding us. I would like to look at equipment each of town has and how we can share it as opposed to each of us replacing equipment we don't use all the time. I do believe this is another way in which we can be responsible with our budget. That being said, as I stated previously, we don't have the manpower or money for new initiatives and programs. When we have our board retreat, I think this would be something worth looking at and talking through.