Pamela J. Sheldon: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Pamela J. Sheldon

City: Mettawa

Office sought: Mettawa Village Board - Trustee

Age: 57

Family: Husband - Ronald M. Lapins; Daughter - Aubrey M. Sheldon

Occupation: Mortgage Broker

Education: Studied Environmental and Political Science

Civic involvement: Current Trustee (past 4 years) Village of Mettawa; Current Chairperson for Parks and Recreation, Committee member of Public Works; Member of Mettawa Open Lands Association (MOLA)

Previous elected offices held: Current Trustee Village of Mettawa

Incumbent? Yes. If yes, when were you first elected? 2015

Website:

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Issue questions

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

Our greatest challenge is to properly balance key Village resident priorities that include our need to: i) preserve the country/rural oasis that Mettawa represents; ii) maintain and improve our infrastructure to remain competitive as a Village in attracting new residents; and iii) execute on improvements that will enhance market values of our property. To best address these challenges I would: i) update the Village strategic plan to adjust for the realities of the current market environment while planning for a sustainable future; ii) focus on prioritizing the infrastructure, amenities and other attributes that make the Village an even more attractive community; iii) ensure selective, well planned, and responsible commercial development

that materially contributes revenues and permits maintaining a low realized tax rate for our Village residents; and iv) appropriately update the Village ordinances to be compatible with these objectives.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I believe that my demonstrated commitment, contributions, and on the job experience will permit me to continue being a value added member to the Village Board. As a year round resident I share a genuine appreciation of the issues we face as a Village, and the importance of timely addressing them. Over the four years of my current term I served on the Public Works Committee as

well as Chaired the Parks and Recreation Committee. A few of our achievements included: i) marked improvement of stormwater management; ii) pavement of public thoroughfares; ii) extended water line access to numerous residents; iv) revitalized, redesigned and planted acres of Village property to be most suitable for recreational use and enjoyment; and v) supported the Villages annexing of Grainger Headquarters resulting in significant additional tax revenue, while also adding 114 acres of

additional open space into the Village.

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.

As a leader I am a practical consensus builder that acts with integrity of conviction, and empathy, receptiveness, and respect for alternative viewpoints.

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?

The village currently enjoys a very healthy balance sheet with surplus funds generated by the Village's commercial development areas (e.g. Costco, hotels and office park). However to rely on the perpetuation of those revenues over a long term would be naive. Now is the time to properly plan to ensure sustainability of the selective, vibrant, commercial contributors, while preserving the rural-country oasis feel of our Village. It is vitally important to focus on infrastructure improvements (power, water and sewer, and data/IT cabling), maintaining and enhancing our parks and recreation areas, and focusing on prioritizing our school district affiliations, as these are principal drivers of improving property values in our Village.

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

Updating our strategic plan based on proper research of important attributes that preserve and enhance property values, including a comprehensive review the Villages competitive strengths and weaknesses. We should use this information to develop a Master Community Development Plan to guide the Village Board in its effective governance of the use and preservation of open space, continued enhancement of the Village's attractiveness, highly selective commercial property tax revenue generation, and the efficient deployment of capital in a manner that best protects our residents' interests.