Niko Kanakaris: 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: HuntleyWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Huntley Village Board Age: 39Family: wife Chandra ,Three sons George 6, Eli 5, Charlie 3Occupation: Restaurant Operator / Real Estate InvestorEducation: Graduated Jacobs High School 1994 M.C.C. for 1 year Business classesCivic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Served as a Village Of Huntley Trustee since 2007Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?8 years Experience On the Village Board Have been in the community for alomost 28 years I want the best for our TownWhat 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.Our Taxes Can always be lower But until we Develop a bigger business tax base which will bring in more sales tax and property tax dollars to our community I'm ok with where were at. As long as I have served as Village of Huntley Trustee we haven't raised our portion of taxes. There is other taxing bodies in our community that I as a Trustee for the Village of Huntley don't have a voice in. The Village of Huntley's portion of the Tax bill is approximate 6 % of the total tax billRate the efficiency of your town's police and fire coverage. Are the departments well prepared for the next decade? What, if anything, should be changed? Do you have specific public safety concerns?I know our Police and Fire Department are the best in the area. Both departments are trained to the maxium capacity for a community our size. I have no public safety concerns at this time. When I see a concern I immediately address the issue to the proper departmentWhere, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I think the budget was very well prepared and all the departments are doing a excellent job. There is no need to trim the budget. we have always ended up with a surplus at the end of the year, which we used for capital projects not day to day operationsWhat's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I have been trying to get a pedestrian bridge over Rt. 47 connecting the east side of Rt47 to the west going to the park which has a great amount of kids and adults that use the great facility that the park districts offer. this bike path and pedestrian bridge over Rt. 47 would be a great asset to our town by reducing auto traffic on Main st.and Rt.47 and the safety of our residents that are trying to walk across busy Rt.47What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I would like to get our Downtown area built up to be a destination point for our residents and travelers driving thru Huntley. for example I like to see the Village to purchase the old Catty property to preserve and repurpose it to a micro brewery and other stores along with a outdoor ice skating rink for the residents to enjoy. Also to attract more industrial/commercial and hotels to Huntley which will keep are taxes lower and bring me more jobs to our community.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Gov. Scott Walker from Wis. Straightened out Wis. financials suitations and showed a surplus of 1 billion dollars and returned some to the residentsWhat's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Honesty and Hard workIf life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Should of never sold my First restaurant the Red Ox in Hampshire.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I wasn't fond of Math , Science and History But enjoyed the Work program, which gave me the experience to operate a businessIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Stay out of the restaurant business. Too many hours away from your family