Brian Boos: Candidate Profile

Back to Roselle Village Board

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: RoselleWebsite: voteboos.comTwitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: VoteBrianBoosOffice sought: Roselle Village Board Age: 34Family: I live in Roselle with my wonderful wife Melissa and our 2 (soon to be 3) children. We are members at Trinity Lutheran Church and our children attend Trinity's elementary school.Occupation: IT ManagerEducation: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Concordia University ChicagoCivic involvement: Graduate of Roselle Citizen Police AcademyMember of Roselle Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS)Elected offices held: NoneQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I'm new to politics, but I've been in the IT industry for over 15 years and I've been managing large projects and large budgets for the last 10 years. That corporate management experience has taught me the value of teamwork, problem solving, and process improvement. My background as a technologist also brings a unique perspective to the village board and to its decision-making process.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.Roselle tax rates are comparable to most neighboring communities, and far lower than some of them. (I'm looking at you, Glendale Heights!) There isn't a current need to raise rates, nor are there services we should cut to lower them. However, this should be continually reviewed to ensure that residents are receiving village services as efficiently as possible.Residents are justifiably concerned about property taxes, but the overwhelming majority of that tax bill (and its increases) comes from public schools. (School districts, park districts, and library districts have the authority from the state to tax residents, all of which is outside the village purview.)Rate 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 have tremendous respect for both the police and fire departments in Roselle. These departments operate with a high degree of professionalism and both have done (and continue to do) tremendous community outreach and education.After several years of significant leadership turnover in the fire department, Chief Anderson has been a stabilizing influence. He's pushed to keep the equipment current without being wasteful and has prioritized staffing and training for medical calls, which are far more common than fire calls.Chief Herron has modernized the police department, encouraged inter-agency cooperation and maintained high service levels even while the village has frozen police hiring (even vacancies already budgeted) pending the results of a third-party study on the police department. I'm eager to see the results of the study, but as it stands right now, the police department is short-staffed and this should be corrected as soon as possible.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I've read through all 204 pages of the FY17 Roselle village budget and the result is a good balance between tactical operations and strategic investment. I attended many of the budgeting meetings where this was discussed and I commend the board for their fiscal discipline.Coming from an IT background, I'd like to evaluate the village's technology-related equipment, services, and projects. I suspect there are areas that we are under-investing (internet connectivity, equipment refreshes) and as well as areas that we might be overpaying (telephony, document management).What is one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Within the central business district and other dense commercial and residential areas, there's a great opportunity make enterprise-class internet service more accessible. Across the street from the Roselle Town Center is an ATT central office at Irving Park and Roselle Road. Other internet providers have fiber runs along or near the major streets in town.In an urban setting like downtown Chicago, it's very common for buildings to be "lit" by fiber from multiple internet providers. Suburban areas are often too spread out for providers to pre-build into neighborhoods or multi-tenant commercial buildings, so the high cost of such a build is passed onto the subscribers.Creating a public-private partnership with an internet service provider or simply brokering a group buy would bring cost-effective internet service to existing residents and add new incentives for prospective businesses to incorporate or relocate. This would also increase competition and put pressure on incumbent providers to keep costs competitive, which benefits everyone in the community.We should also investigate coordinating street maintenance by our public works department with fiber outlays from local internet providers. If we are going to be ripping up streets anyway, we are wasting an opportunity if we're not thinking about what else can go underneath or alongside them.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Good public service isn't about flashy ideas or about change for change's sake. Good municipal government keeps cops on the streets, ambulances rolling, water pipes flowing, and roads in good condition. At the end of the day, if those things don't happen, the village has failed in its primary mission. No municipal candidate or village official should ever forget this.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Warren Buffet has proven that any company can be successful if managed correctly.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?"Take responsibility for your actions" was a lesson my father taught me.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I'd try all of those things that I didn't do as a youth because I thought I might not like them.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Senior Scholar Seminar: Discussion of books, essays, and life in general. Thought-provoking debates and logical arguments, which I've continued with friends and peers.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?"Knowledge is power" is what I tell my children. Never stop learning, always ask questions, because you'll always find a use for what you learn!