John Krummen: Candidate Profile

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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:BioQA Bio City: NapervilleWebsite: Krummenforcouncil2015.comOffice sought: Naperville City Council Age: 50Family: I am a widowed father of two fine young men. David, Nathan, and I moved to Naperville over 10 years ago when they were both in middle school. David is now studying psychology at Iowa State University and is very active in many professional organizations. Nathan is a double major in Economics and Computer Science at Indiana University. Nathan is set to graduate within 3 years and was recently elected to president of his fraternity.Occupation: I am an engineering executive having worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies, as well as a profesEducation: BS Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati MS Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati MBA, Indiana UniversityCivic involvement: Chairman of the Public Utility Advisory Board (Appointed by Mayor Pradel) Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Forum Associate Director of the Naperville Area Home Owners Confederation Member of the Renewable Energy Grant Design Committee Member of Naperville Development Partnership Marketing Team Member of the Exchange Club of Naperville (Rookie of the Year 2011) Church volunteer and youth minister Election Judge SupervisorElected offices held: NoneQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am an engineering executive having worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies, published multiple technical papers on advanced engineering topics, and am a patent-holding engineer. I am also an adjunct professor of graduate business school at Benedictine and Concordia Universities. My courses include, international economics, accounting, and finance. It is this combination of technology and finance that makes me unique among the other many fine candidates. The two biggest problems the city faces is attracting new business for economic growth, while also reducing planned deficit spending. Deficits of $8 million last year, $12 million this year, and more planned deficit spending for the coming years. As an engineering executive I can help bring new innovation based companies to Naperville, and as a professor of economics and finance, I can help reduce the city's deficits. To quote the Daily Herald in 2013, "Krummen, with advanced degrees in both engineering and finance, understands the most intricate technical and budgetary matters the city may face."What is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales and property taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.More and more resident residents are having an ever increasing difficulty in paying their taxes. Many wonder if they can continue to live in the community they have come to love. With this backdrop, the council has approved deficits of $6.8 million for last year and a project deficit of $11.7 for this year. With what funding, and when does the current council intend pay down these new debts? In the case of the Water Street project, debt was created at least 9 months even before the start of the project. All of this demonstrates a relaxed attitude about debt. Like every family, the city must learn to live within a budget. The only sustainable solution is to implement more efficient government, double our efforts to attract new innovation professional businesses, and to pass budgets that reflect realistic tax revenue.Early projections for the fiscal year 2016 budget showed a $12 million deficit. What can the city do to avoid future budget deficits? Where can the city save money or make cuts?The council has approved deficits of $6.8 million for last year and a project deficit of $11.7 for this year, and additional deficits are projected for the coming years. The council is working with a general fund budget of approximately $130 million, with projected tax revenues of approximately $118 million. A great majority of the budget is fixed to employee salaries. Cutting employees would cut much needed city services such as fire and police. This is simply not the answer. Therefore, the financial solution must be found in the capital budgets. One example of a capital expense is a fire truck. These trucks can cost upward of $200,000. The city of Naperville buys them one at a time and has little purchasing power. However, we can partner with our neighbor cities like Bolingbrook, Wheaton, and Lisle. By combining our purchasing power, together we can receive a group discount by an assumed 10%. On a large purchase, such as $200,000, this will generate a savings of $20,000. If we can achieve this with fire trucks, we can achieve this on snow plows, health insurance, and even pencils and paper.What additional regulations, if any, should the city council impose on bars and liquor license holders to help keep the downtown night life safe? What do you think of the restrictions recently created, such as relating to late-night entry, shot sales, beer sizes, drink specials and security training?There is a famous saying in the automotive industry - you can never have enough horsepower, brakes, or safety. As a community we must never become complacent when it comes to ensuring the safety of our residents. On multiple occasions, I've ridden along with police officers in downtown and other parts of the city. I was able to witness first-hand the difficult job that the police carry out in the most professional manner. The police have also been proactive in working with bar and restaurant owners in improving the education of the wait staff, as well as increasing communication between the bars. One troubling trends among the late night crowd is drinking before entering a bar. This limits the ability of serving staff to gauge how many drinks a person may have consumed. It's difficult to judge when someone needs to be "cut off." The new liquor license protocols, were a first step in increasing safety in Naperville. However, the council approved processes that punished both good bar owners and the bad players. A philosophy that punish all has never worked and never will. The city must find fair ways to separate out the bad players from the responsible bar owners. This will allow the city to punish the bad players, and provide Naperville an entertainment center we can be proud of. As a new city councilman, I will work in a team atmosphere to produce better policies and procedures.What should the city council's role be in bringing businesses to town? Should businesses be allowed to bring in proposals under code names, such as "Project Panda"? What do you think of the decision to approve the SKF development at Warrenville and Freedom roads before informing the public of what the development would be?Past council have focused economic growth on housing developments. However, the housing markets are no longer the economic engine they have been in the past. The new economic engine of the future are innovation based business. Naperville is primed to take full advantage of this new economic growth in innovation based companies. Our neighbors are engineers, accountants, financial professionals, lawyers, and successful business leaders. All of us are potential new employees for these companies. Additionally, innovation based companies like BP, Navistar, and Nalco, will also help attract new innovation based business. In this spirit I am very excited about SKF locating a new center of excellence in Naperville, and is just one example of what is possible. Among the other fine candidates, I am uniquely qualified to accelerate the addition of companies like SKF. Over a 30 year engineering career, I have both professional knowledge and experience working with companies just like SKF. Additionally, I understand that there are countless worldwide stakeholders in SKF, and public announcements of this nature must be kept confidential until all of the global participants can be aligned.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Preserving Naperville Naperville is a close knit community of almost 150,000 residents. Our community spirit results from the great efforts by countless residents throughout our schools, our churches, our youth sports teams, and our countless charitable organizations. The council is given a great responsibility to keep this community spirit alive. Economic growth is paramount to preserving Naperville for our children and grandchildren. However, the council cannot simply pursue short term, unfocused economic growth that threatens our community. The council most guard our community spirit by not recklessly pursuing growth just for the sake of growth. True, sustainable economic growth will emerge from attracting long term professional jobs to our many available business parks.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Angela Merkel, the Prime Minister of Germany. She is economically holding the EU together, while also politically out maneuvering Vladimir Putin.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I was educated by Jesuit priests who taught us, it is a sin not to try your best and share your God given talents.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I lost my wife, Barbara, to cancer when we were both 36. I would spend every second I could with her.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math, it allowed me to pursue scientific advancements as well as understand and teach finance and economics.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Do not get mad, get a plan.