Sue Gould: 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: PalatineWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Palatine Park Board (6-year Terms)Age: 63Family: Married, 2 grown children, 3 grandchildren with another on the way.Occupation: Real Estate Broker with Prudential Starck, Realtors, Palatine for 33 years.Education: Graduate, Palatine High School, 1967 Bachelor of Arts in English, University of Denver, 1971Civic involvement: Past President, Lifetime Member, Palatine Historical Society Past President, Palatine High School VIP Parents Club Past President and Member, Northwest Suburban Alumnae Club of Alpha Gamma Delta Past President, Friends of the Palatine Library Member of Realtors Against Homelessness (a group of local Realtors who raise funds to aid the homeless students in District 211.)Elected offices held: Commissioner, Palatine Park District, 1993 - present.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 I am committed to providing safe and affordable recreational activities to all of the Palatine Park District residents. Our challenge is to keep our taxes at a reasonable rate while maintaining our programs and facilities.Key Issue 2 The Palatine Park District should be an asset to the community and the enjoyment of our parks and programs should be open to everyone. Living near a park should increase one's property values. We need to be good neighbors to everyone who lives near our parks and facilities.Key Issue 3 Every resident of the Palatine Park District should have programs and facilities that are available to them, no matter their capabilities. This includes seniors, families, singles, teens, young children and the disabled. We need to be aware of new interests and activities that our residents want to see offered.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?Many park district programs and facilities don't pay for themselves. Programs such as fitness classes, gymnastics, youth sports and recreational classes have fees that support them. Many other park district activities, including playgrounds and the bike trail, are fully supported by tax dollars. The golf course and the riding stable are the only two revenue producing facilities that we have, although Falcon Park is proving to be profitable. When the economy worsened the two revenue facilities, especially the golf course, became less profitable than we would like. We are currently trying several new ideas to increase usage and revenue while containing expenditures. Swimming pools are another example of park district facilities that are not profit producers but that provide healthly and fun activities for everyone of any age. We now have 3 beautiful pools evenly distributed throughout the park district to serve the residents. We had to eliminate an outdated pool that was very expensive to maintain.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.We recently acquired a beautiful almost 12 acre site in the northwest section of the park district. As a real estate broker, I am constantly looking for sites that could be utilized by the park district. Unfortunately, when land became very expensive we were not able to buy some parcels that would have been nice to acquire. Now that prices have dropped we have been able to purchase parcels such as our new Meadowlark Park. We will be leaving it as open space for now.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?No park district can provide everything to everyone. We don't, for instance, have an indoor pool, which is something that I would like to see us have. We would need to have a referendum and let our residents decide if they would be willing to support a possible tax increase in order to pay for something like that.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?We already do share/pool our resources with our local school districts and the Village of Palatine. We share such things as maintenance of sports fields and playgrounds, grass cutting, snow plowing and other related items. We have a Combined Services building that we share with the Village of Palatine for our trucks and other motorized equipment to be serviced. We also share the building on Wood Street where the Village and the Park District have their main offices. We cooperate with District 15 for the CARE program that provides before and after school programs for the elementary school children. Both school districts use our facilities for their programs and we use their buildings for ours. These examples of cooperation have worked out well for everyone and have saved countless taxpayer dollars.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.An an incumbent, I have played a leadership role in the following: 1. Purchase of new parcels of land for new and expanded parks, including Towne Square Park, Falcon Park, Wally Degner Park, Meadowlark Park, the Grove and several other areas. 2. Renovation of our existing pools, including Community, Birchwood and Eagle. 3. Replacement of dozens of our playgrounds, including the installation of activities for the disabled. 4. Development and/or improvements to Palatine Hills Golf Course, Palatine Stables, the Community Center, Birchwood Recreation Center, Clayson House Museum, Cutting Hall, Fred Hall Amphitheater, NE Palatine Opportunity Center and the Falcon Park building. 5. Development or improvements to parks such as Finch, Heron, Hummingbird, Juniper, Locust, Mulberry, Palatine Hills, Palatine Prairie, Peregrine, the Senior Center, the reservoir areas and several others. 6. Improvements to our sports fields including shade shelters, parking lots and concession areas. 7. Expansion of our Bike Trail within the district and new connections to adjacent trails. 8. The hiring of our new Executive Director after an extensive search and interviews with many highly qualified individuals.