John L. Shaw: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: John L. Shaw

City: Lake Zurich

Office sought: Village of Lake Zurich Trustee

Age: 57

Family: Wife (Mia) Daughter (Emily)

Occupation: General Manager: Building Operations & Administrative Services - Metra

Education: William Fremd High School - Palatine, Illinois; Attended William Rainey Harper College - Palatine, Illinois

Civic involvement: Village of Lake Zurich Zoning Board of Appeals Commissioner, May 1993 to June 2014; Lake Zurich Lions Club member, March 2011 through June 2015; Lake Zurich Lions Club Board member, July 2013 through June 2015; Served on numerous Lake Zurich School District 95 Advisory committees: Superintendent selection, Seth Paine Principal selection, Facility and Building assessment, School boundary redistricting; Ela Township Facilities, Parks and Open Space advisory committee; Girls softball coach for the Lake Zurich Youth Baseball/Softball Association, May 2006 through August 2009; Served as a volunteer Fire Fighter for the Lake Zurich Fire Department, January 1987 until April 1993, as well as serving as a Director on the Volunteer Fire Fighter Association Board until March 1996; Lake Zurich community events volunteer: Rock the Block, Miracle on Main Street, July Fourth Celebration, Craft Beer Fest, Alpine Days.

Previous elected offices held: Village of Lake Zurich Trustee, July 2014 to present; Ela Area Public Library District Trustee, April 2009 to April 2013; Ela Area Public Library District President, April 2011 to April 2013

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? I was appointed to an open trustee position in July 2014 and was elected to a 4 year term starting in April 2015

Website: http://www.facebook.com/JohnLShawforLakeZurich

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LZProgress

Twitter: N/A

Issue questions

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

At the end of the day it all comes down to finances, budgeting and planning. We all want the Police Telecommunicator to answer our 911 call on the first ring and the Police Officer/Firefighter/Paramedic who is responding to be only one block away, our streets plowed and paved, our water and sewer service working properly and our parks all in great condition. That all takes proper funding and ongoing planning and asset evaluation. In 2017 the village created its first (CIP) Capital Investment Plan. The CIP takes a 20 year look at possible capital expenses and allows us to budget these large capital needs. The CIP provides budgetary forecasting for everything from replacement fire engines, squad cars, public works vehicles and equipment, and infrastructure like road replacements, sewer line replacements and the pumps that push our sewage to the Lake County treatment plant and provide our fresh drinking water in our homes. The village board and staff are continually investigating to see if we can do things more efficiently to help stretch every dollar of revenue.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I feel that I had been preparing for the position of trustee my entire life. I was raised in a household where community involvement was expected and a very important part of our lives. My parents served on Village Boards, Village and School Committees as well as many other community organizations during my upbringing. My 93-year-old father to this day still serves on numerous civic organizations he is passionate about. From my first days in the community when I joined what was then the Lake Zurich Volunteer Fire Department and was trained as a Fire Fighter and then responded to the call for help from the community, to my 20 plus years on the Lake Zurich Zoning Board of Appeals, my School District 95 involvement over the years to helping my daughters softball teams has all been a learning experience preparing me for the job of trustee. I'm running for election for Trustee with my fellow board members Jonathan Sprawka and Marc Spacone. I believe the three of us each bring many things to the board as individuals yet we are professionals who can act in a collaborative fashion without personal agendas.

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.

I'm results driven. I believe the process is very simple: Create an idea, develop a plan with actionable steps, execute that plan, evaluate your success and/or failures, adjust the plan, and start the process over until you have achieved the vision or a success. Nothing happens without a plan! Ideas are great but without the process or the "how" and concrete solutions for budgeting and funding solid execution cannot take place. I empower our team to have a desire to produce effective results that better the entire community. It is my job as a community leader to encourage people to work together in the service of something greater than themselves. In my years of civic involvement I have been able to remain open to all points of view. Always mindful of the privilege and trust the community has given me and my fellow board members to be the stewards of our community. With trust and privilege comes the ultimate responsibility to serve the community and make the most informed decisions possible for the community as a whole. None of the current board are encumbered by individual agendas. We all serve to enhance the community as a whole.

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

Through hard work and difficult decisions, the Village's finances are in the best shape they have been in many years. We as a board inherited a budget process and finances that were in chaos. We changed the culture to reflect a more open and transparent process. We have attained a AAA bond rating which gives the village the ability to borrow money, if needed, at the best available interest rates. The members of the current board work globally for the betterment of the community. We need to nurture our retail, and business/industrial partners in the community to help ensure their success which then protects jobs in the community as well as providing sales tax revenues to the village. I want to continue to help Lake Zurich remain as the main economic driver of the southeast Lake County economy.

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

It occurred to me that there has been a plethora of solar energy residential conversions going on in the Village. That, plus D95's desire to go totally solar … eventually, had me casting about for ways that we could inexpensively get on board and ahead of this curve wave. I am partnering with Public Works Director Mike Brown and spearheading the process of seeking a community SolSmart designation. SolSmart (https://www.solsmart.org/) is a US Dept of Energy program that recognizes cities, counties, and small towns for making it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar. Their national team of experts provides no-cost technical assistance to help local governments become "open for solar business." In recognition of their achievements, communities receive designations of SolSmart Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Also, continuing with the path that the current board is forging which is to plan for the future and to not leave legacy funding issues for the village to contend with 10 or 20 years down the road. We are managing improvements in infrastructure and capital needs today that will ultimately save the community money down the road.