Steve DeAtley: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Steven DeAtley

City: Sleepy Hollow

Office sought: Village trustee.

Age: 55

Family: wife Jill, son Kyle, daughter Holly

Occupation: Cost Estimator

Education: Some College

Incumbent: no

Civic Involvement: Member, Immanuel Lutheran Church, East Dundee; Chicago Area Mission Partnership (CAMP) mission trip participant; Sleepy Hollow Service Club member 2001-2011; Dundee-Crown HS Athletic Booster Club volunteer 2009-2017; Tri-Cities Little League coach 2002-2007.

Issue questions

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

I think the most important issue is the need for financial funding in a small village that doesn't have a lot of resources coming in. I think we need to be creative on how we fund things. Can we work with other villages to possibly consolidate services or leverage our buying power? I think we need to approach discussions with an open mind to explore these issues with a focus on what is best for the residents of the village.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I know I am a good candidate for the job because I approach things with a willingness to listen and have a common-sense approach. I like to listen and understand before I speak. I want to get all points of view. I'm interesting in joining the Board simply because I want to give back to a community that welcomed us here 17 years ago.

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 focused on working together to get things done. Everyone deserves the right to be heard, but in the end the Board is elected to represent the citizens and make decisions. I'm a collaborative type of person so I would work to take input from the community into consideration and reach consensus if possible. However, to do nothing or follow the status quo is not acceptable. Things must move forward and sometimes that will mean making tough decisions.

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 current board made the tough decision to put forward a tax increase which is never popular but was necessary to ensure continuing financial stability. This increase in tax revenue has appeared to helped stabilize our current budget. As a board member, I would work diligently to make sound financial decisions to spend those funds wisely. As suggested above, we should look for creative ways to continue to provide services that we need. I believe you always have to be reviewing the budget to see if there are areas you can tweak or change to make things work better and more cost effectively. We have limited income coming in to the village so, we need to constantly be looking for ways to bring in more revenue while finding opportunities to save in any areas. We need to be creative in how we make this happen. With all this being said we need to do what is the best for the village.

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

I'd like to work with the Sleepy Hollow police and Rutland Dundee Fire Department on a project to improve the visibility of house numbers in the village. Many homes do not have reflective numbers that are visible at night which makes it hard for anyone, including our public safety professionals, to find a home. When there's an emergency, every minute counts so I think it would be good for everyone to have their house numbers more visible. It's a little improvement that could make a big difference for Sleepy Hollow residents.