Christy McGovern: 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: LisleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Christy McGovern for Village of Lisle TrusteeOffice sought: Lisle Village Board Age: 42Family: I'm married to my college sweetheart, a Chicago native, that I met at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. We have been married 14 years. We are very proud of our four boys, aged 13- 6. We think Lisle is a great place to raise our kids and teach them to be community contributors.Occupation: Spanish teacher at St. Joseph School, Downers GroveEducation: I have a B.A. from Benedictine College in English, Spanish, and Education. The University of Cumplutence, Madrid, Spain, is where a I started my master's credits.Civic involvement: I was appointed the Village of Lisle's Board in July 2016. Prior to my involvement with the Village Board I was a board member of the Green Trails Improvement Association for 6 years, 2009-2015.Elected offices held: Current Trustee for the Village of Lisle, board member of the Green Trails Improvement Association, 2009-2015.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am a positive and energetic contributor in my town of Lisle. I really care about where I live. I care about the friends and citizens of Lisle. As a teacher, I'm focused on families and the future of their children, the comfort of their grandparents, in our Village. I've worked diligently for seven years giving back to my community while serving on the Green Trails Improvement Board and currently as Trustee on the Village Board. I want to see the town I love reach its grand potential and produce more revenue to assist in taxes and contribute to our quality of life.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.While it is easy to get excited about the prospect of lower taxes, I wouldn't want to sacrifice the excellence of what Lisle currently has to offer. We have an excellent return for the 6% of the taxes that actually go directly to the Village. We have an award winning police department, swiftly operating public works department that ensures our safety as well, an incredible Park and Library District that meets the needs of our young and old alike. Lisle currently has a 6 month budget reserve at hand. This is to insure our prosperity even at the most difficult of times. We have received an Aa1 rating from Moody's, the highest possible rating a town can achieve. It is difficult when our state is currently operating without a budget nor any ideas on pension reform to operate without a safety net. My commitment to fortify Lisle with more businesses and revenue, as we are so ideally located near highways and the train station, I believe is the surest way to ease our wallets and contribute to the improvement of our standard of living in Illinois.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?The fire department in Lisle is a separate taxing district, but the police force is directly supported by the contributions of our residents. Response times for both departments are excellent. Under crisis, our police department acts heroically, as in the October 2016 home invasion. Innocent lives are saved in the most timely manner. Our police force also makes large efforts to address diversity issues and promote communication. The force's first diversity event was held this past summer and was a inspirational success. A public safety concern that I do have is the ongoing battle to eliminate heroin and its deadly draws in our neighborhoods. Marijuana in its new candy forms is also a great concern to me as it targets mere children. These dangers may be just around the corner from us. It is very reassuring to know that we have public safety forces that listen to our community's concerns as I feel more proactive efforts need to be in place to discourage substance abuse in our youth before it blooms into a much larger problem.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?The current state of the economy and its imprecations for the future is the biggest challenge facing most of us. It will require a viligant, proactive board of trustees and mayor that makes smart decisions and sets feasible goals. There is misinformation out regarding property taxes and how they relate to the Lisle Village Budget. Currently, for every $1,000 of property taxes paid by a citizen, $60 goes directly to the funding of the Village of Lisle. Right now, 82% of our taxes go to our police services and pensions. So, of that $60 going to the Village, $49 is dedicated to our valored police department. It is money well spent, but we as a state, as a Village in need to figure out the need for pension reform to a manageable entity. We are doing well with grant writing to ease the citizen's municipal expenses, but we and our employees can aim for more allocated and available funding. We currently have succeeded in saving money by sharing services in public works for Lisle Township and Naperville Township and more shared services, without compromise may be an option. I don't believe we need more money in our budget, but we need to continue to find areas to improve efficiency.What is one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I think it is amazing what we do have going on in our small town of Lisle. We have car shows, free concerts, the Eyes to the Skies Festival, a well attended Ale Fest, the Lights of Lisle Christmas Festival, Depot Days, French Market, parades, a strong Historical Society presence, Village Hall meetings and workshops, just to name a few. . .I would like to see a link on the Village's website where you could enroll in an app alert system, a calendar reminder to encourage attendance at many of our enjoyable assets the town has to offer. The reminders will promote conversation in our neighborly community and we can gather downtown, in the parks, or in the Board Room and during or afterwards support Lisle establishments. The more we go, the more they grow!What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?A hot topic in our community right now is the pending referendum question of combining Woodridge, Warrenville, and Lisle into one large annexed Naperville. The petitions for this annexation question were circulated by paid circulators from outside of our community and filed by a lawyer that was hired by someone or some group that chooses to be "anonymous". Anonymous requests should not be entertained in our local government. Seemingly a political stunt or way to draw people out to the municipal election polls, or true intention, I don't know. But the ridiculous misinterpretation of Rauner's consolidation encouragement is laughable. You have to laugh, because otherwise you would cry at the grand cost this "stunt" costs the towns that are merely doing their jobs to shoot this ownerless shananigan off the ballot. So much time and money is lost on people slowing government process, trying to hurt our town. If you want transparency, then objectors should be transparent as well. Voices of our community are meant to be heard. Aren't we, after all, working together for the benefit grand majority? If your intent is benevolent, then please offer your ideas for proactive solutions and your name.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Living in NJ during 9/11, I'm inspired by former Mayor Guilliani. Optimism , compassion and strength in the face of attack, essential for greatness.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Your life is more fulfilled and character strengthened by having friends of all ages and walks of life.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have hung out with my grandmother more.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I'm a reader. I loved literature in English class. Sympathasizing with a character, trying on their "shoes" in a situation promotes understanding.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Kindess is cool.