Emily Jacobs: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Emily Jacobs

City: Winfield

Office sought: Village Trustee

Age: 31

Family: Single, grew up in Winfield and now own a home, parents still live in Winfield

Occupation: High School Bilingual/ESL Social Studies teacher

Education: Bachelor of Arts in History and Education from Augustana College, Master's of Education National Louis University

Civic involvement: Volunteer member of the Winfield Economic Development and Communication Commission, Volunteer at Cantigny Park as greeter at First Division Museum

Previous elected offices held: None

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? N/A

Website: http://winfieldworkingtogether.com/

Facebook: facebook.com/WinfieldWT

Twitter: @WinfieldWorking

Issue questions

What are the most important issues facing your community and how do you intend to address them?

Winfield needs to expand our property and sales tax base. As infrastructure expenses rise, revenue needs to increase. This can be done by continuing the current focus of attracting commercial and residential development. A recent annexation to North Avenue now has a new $23-million e-Commerce Center being built. The first phase of construction along the Roosevelt Road commercial corridor will begin shortly with a new Bucky's gas station. The board reviewed a proposed 150-unit high-end apartment complex for the area south of the Town Center railroad tracks that has great potential. Finally, the Village needs to reach an agreement with CDH-Northwestern Hospital on the proposed redevelopment of Town Center into a commercial, cultural, medical complex that generates tax revenue for the Village. One of my goals is to focus on effective discussion among residents, businesses and in negotiations. I will support this goal by modeling a respectful demeanor, organized communication, and a thoughtful voice with colleagues on the board. The most important skills I want to teach students are how to communicate courteously, value diverse views, and listen to others. I will bring those values to the board to encourage productive discussions.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I am an experienced teacher, longtime Winfield resident and dedicated community volunteer with a collaborative spirit and enthusiastic attitude. The Board should better reflect the demographics of our town. I am the best candidate for this job because I will contribute a diverse perspective of gender, generation and professional background. As a Trustee, I will listen to all residents with an open-mind, analyze issues from multiple viewpoints other than just my own, advocate for resident needs, and reflect on areas that we can grow as a Village. My professional background in education relates very much to the role of Trustee. I have experience working with diverse individuals on large team projects, communicating to achieve goals, being accountable to stakeholders, and being a lifelong learner who is always adapting to the needs of the job. I prefer collaborating with others and pursuing outcomes that benefit everyone involved. I have experience mediating discussions between individuals, listening empathetically, organizing projects and maintaining a positive attitude in the workplace. I want to serve my community and therefore, will work hard to be prepared, knowledgeable, and involved in the duties of Trustee.

Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your village board or city council.

My leadership style is to communicate intended outcomes and then facilitate group discussion on methods to achieve those goals. Team members should feel valued to share ideas and develop an action plan together. My role is to provide a clear vision and the organization needed to complete the project. I work hard to ensure team members feel invested and appreciated in what they contribute. This style will be effective in producing decisions on the board because I will hold all my colleagues accountable to participating. I will seek each person's input on decisions. Whether I am the leader or part of the team, I will be organized, communicative, remind the team of our end goal and encourage full participation from my colleagues. I practice this philosophy daily. In addition to teaching, I am coordinator for a national college readiness program in which I oversee learning outcomes for 350 students, lead a team of 35 teachers, supervise 8 employees, facilitate a professional learning community of 6 teachers, build a budget and liaise between colleagues and administration. This experience demonstrates my knowledge and ability to work both as a leader and team player.

How would you describe the condition of your community's budget, and what are the most important specific actions the town should take to assure providing the level of services people want?

Having studied Winfield's budget and consistently attended board meetings to hear financial updates, I can see that the Village has worked to lessen spending in areas that do not impact public safety and delivery of essential services. The Village has a lean staff and also does a good job relying on volunteers to add value to committees. They have been very proactive in controlling costs, looking for savings, and maintaining a balanced budget with reserves. However, Village revenues are not keeping pace with the rising costs of operations, police pensions, capital improvements, state unfunded mandates, and state income tax diversion by the legislature. Through quality, well-planned development (both commercial and residential), we can grow our property tax and sales tax base to provide the additional revenue needed to keep providing the level of services that we expect as residents. A great start to growing that tax base is the Roosevelt Road corridor development with the new Bucky's gas station and convenience store coming in 2019. Another beneficial increase to the tax base will be to reach an agreement with CDH/Northwestern on the development of Town Center and agree on the renewal of the CDH/Northwestern grant that compensates for services and infrastructure provided by Winfield.

What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

I will advocate for more frequent, more modern communication on social media and a more user friendly Village website. Our local government needs to be more transparent in sharing information to increase residents' knowledge of our town. Every surrounding town and many businesses in our own Village use social media to connect with residents. Although the Village recently published in the Winfield Word that they have a Facebook page, they did not include the name of the page. When you look it up, it is a closed group, which does not encourage constituent participation. We need a page that any resident can follow. Facebook has specific tools to support local governments, and we need to take advantage of that approach. Social media is not a fad; it is a free, approachable way to reach many residents, businesses and visitors of our community. The Village of Winfield should also be communicating more frequently with residents who opt-in on email and social media. Information should be shared about special events, village meetings, volunteer efforts, town hall forums, community activities, celebrations of local businesses, village accomplishments, and more.