Jennifer (Jenny) McGuire: 2025 candidate for Sleepy Hollow village president

Bio

Office sought: Sleepy Hollow village president

City: Sleepy Hollow

Age: 41

Occupation: Recruiting

Previous offices held: Sleepy Hollow Village Trustee

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? Also, what makes you the best candidate for the position?

I am running for office because I moved back here after leaving for college and having kids to raise my kids here. It wasn't the same community that I grew up in.

Every time I have asked for an improvement or brought up a safety issue, I was told there is no money. Instead of improving our village economy, we just went without. There are more efficient ways to do things. No one ever put the extra effort in.

What is the most serious issue your community will face in coming years and how should leaders respond to it?

We have major financial issues and are told there is no money to repair streets. Our 5-year financial plan is not looking good. Our lake is in bad standing, and we have a park with no equipment. Someone is trying to bring in a storage facility that will bring in minimal tax revenue, and our pool is broken down and empty.

On top of all of this, our elementary school is a ranch-style school that is exposed to outside threats because it has regular glass windows and doors with no outside security.

How would you describe the state of your community's finances? What should be the top priorities for spending during the next few years? Are there areas of spending that need to be curtailed?

Terrible. We are projecting to be over budget for the next year. This should have been addressed years ago with the five-year cap. We should have been actively seeking businesses that would complement our community.

Running a village takes work, and we need someone willing to humble themselves and put in the work that it takes. We need to make money that does not come from raising property taxes. It's that simple. Another thing, just because we can raise taxes 5% every year, does not mean we should!

What do you see as the most important infrastructure project you must address? Why and how should it be paid for? Conversely, during these uncertain economic times, what project(s) can be put on the back burner?

There are so many … roads, water, and sewer. Again, we need retail revenue. There are a lot of new and young families moving into the town, and it is not their job to pay for the lack of maintenance in the village before them.

If we don't maintain our village, just like a home, it will be more expensive in the long run. It doesn’t make any sense.

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

I have been a leader in business for the last 20 years. I have been asked this question a lot. I lead from the front. I would never ask anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself, make a call that I couldn’t make myself. I ask for things with empathy and compassion. If I disagree, I always try and see it from the other side and treat them with respect.

I am going to make sure everyone, elected and employed, realizes that they work for the residents and not the other way around. We will run this village with understanding and respect!

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

Build our own economy. We will target the businesses that we all want and entice them to come to work with us. We should not be making business hard for our business owners. Everyone in this community should prosper.

I am also going to allow questions at board meetings. I will not be silencing our residents. They say, “It takes a village,” and it sure does. We need to all work together.