Kevin Grouwinkel: 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: mount prospectWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Mount Prospect Village Board Age: 56Family: wife and two daughters, 22 and 19Occupation: V.P. Sales MarketingEducation: Associate from HarperCivic involvement: Lions Club Member for 18 years Rainbow Hospice volunteer 7 yearsElected offices held: former Mt. Prospect Library trustee 8 years 3 years on the Mt. Prospect safety committeeQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I have lived here since I was at Prospect HS. I understand Mt. Prospect and how the Village has grown. I was elected to the Library board and served 8 years, I was on the Village's safety committee for three years and have been a member of the Lions club for eighteen years. I am also a volunteer for 7 years at Rainbow Hospice. I work for a wholesale printer in Elk Grove and I work with small business owners everyday. I understand and hear what small business owners need. I think my past experience has prepared me well to be a trustee for the Village of Mount Prospect. I have been involved with Mt. Prospect my whole adult life, my parents live here, I have seen the village grow and change. I now see the need for the Village board to also change. With the revenue sources drying up, it is time for the Village board to start thinking out of the box on new ideas to generate revenue for the Village, with the most important being redeveloping the available land in Mt. Prospect. This will only be done by going and selling developers on the idea, you cannot have a wait and see who comes attitude, that will not work anymore. It is time for the Mt. Prospect Village board to be on the offensive and come up with new ideas instead of the wait and see what the next town is doing. This takes new people.The settlement between Mount Prospect and Ye Olde Town Inn remains a hot-button topic. What is your opinion of the settlement, the years of disputes and what lessons, if any, have been learned.All elected officials are obligated by the people that elected them, to let the taxpayers know why and how their money is being spent. It is very clear by the decision of having to pay Todd Curtis $6.5 million dollars, that the Village was negligent by their actions against the Ye Old Town Inn. While I understand they cannot discuss the details, they have an obligation to the taxpayers, who are paying the bill, to tell us something. To say they cannot discuss anything, only makes the residents think they are not telling us all of the facts. The facts are very clear. The actions of the Village, specifically harassing Todd Curtis so he would sell his property to the Village, was ruled Illegal and we the tax payers had to pay $440,000 out of our general fund. With the balance of the $6.5 million being paid by the Municipal insurance fund, which will probably see increased payments in the future. Yes the Village board had an obligation to tell us what we were paying for.Talk about the current performance of downtown Mount Prospect and Randhurst Village, and which retail district you consider the priority (and why). How can each one be improved, and how can the village help them along?The Village portion of the property taxes will always seam to high to residents. It is the job of the Village Board to continue to look at other areas for alternative ideas for new revenue sources. It is time to think out of the box at ways we can do this. This biggest way we can relieve the tax situation is at new construction. The Village just adopted a plan Done by the Lakota group, funded by the RTA, clearly describing all of the different sites that were available for possible redevelopment. This is not going to happen unless the Village puts someone in charge of making sure this happens. We need to market these locations to developers on a consistent basis. The money for new construction is there but you cannot wait for someone to come to the Village and ask what parcels are available. You need to get out to the developer industry and sell your Village, we have a lot to offer, but no one is doing this currently. An iniative should be put forth to have someone take responsibility for doing this.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?After running two years ago for Village Trustee, I know that the Village did an across the board reduction in all catagories to the budget. While we have seen tax revenues again increasing annually, some of those across the board cuts have been restored. I do believe that the Fire Department is one area where it is not fully funded before the across the board cuts were made. This is one area that I would look at to see if we could get the fire department back to the manpower that it needs to make sure all of the residents are safe.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I new program has popped up in the last few years where Villages works with a national company that offers homeowners a warranty on their outside buried water and sewer lines, for a small monthly fee. If a line breaks or is blocked, the customer calls the 24/7 toll-free customer service number, and a local contractor is dispatched. The resident pays a small monthly fee and the Village receives a commission and they know that the residents will be taken care of and no village property will be damaged. These emergency services can cost thousands of dollars and many of our older residents are not able to pay this one time big expense. The new breed of politician better come into the job with an understanding of how to develop new ideas and how to redevelop mature assets and processes into revenue-generating applications.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The biggest issue is seeing the Mount Prospect continues to survive the challenges that is faces moving forward. The real estate tax revenue will continue to be a big challenge as we move forward. It is imperative that we bring in new development so our tax revenues will increase in the future.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Warren BuffettWhat's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?To always by humble with what I have.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would not change one day, life is about learning and moving forward.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math. It has been a great help to me in my profession.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Never give up!