Robin D. Meier: 2025 candidate for Mundelein mayor

Bio

Office Sought: Mundelelin mayor

City: Mundelelin

Age: 71

Occupation: Retired

Previous offices held: Planning and zoning commissioner and trustee of Mundelein

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?

As mayor I will tackle past unresolved issues such as; vacancies, flooding, McKinley Road reconstruction and others. I will provide more information to businesses and residents. I have long-standing experience as a Mundelein trustee, and service on the planning and zoning commission. I’ve served in economic downturns, pandemics, weather and flooding emergencies where drastic measures and difficult decisions had to be made.

I’ve been involved in negotiations with numerous developments, projects, and will work diligently to assist current businesses and attract new ones. I know what strategies or negotiations worked, what didn’t work, and the reasons why some succeeded and some failed. Experience counts.

I have a proven record that shows I am always willing to listen, provide information, and explain to the community what is going on in the village. Please see my website: meier4mayor.com for more information.

I’ve served on the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency, Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Emergency Telephone System Board, and other board committees, Groot contract negotiations, and chaired the Old Village Hall Study committee report.

I have been a long-standing volunteer with Mundelein community groups.

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

It is imperative to respond quickly to the post COVID changes that occurred to retail, online shopping, AI, work at home, real estate impacts, etc. and how those changes impacted our downtown business and development efforts. Additionally, the proposed new tariffs have the potential to impact new and current developments in progress. I will monitor and insist on the deliverance of promised federal grants. Those are three areas which have the potential to slow down our progress in the next few years.

As mayor I commit to actively work to receive the federal grants promised to keep our projects moving forward. New tariffs may make construction costs escalate or create construction supply issues. I will work closely with developers to keep these projects on track. I will work diligently to understand and react quickly to new retail models, real estate challenges, online shopping impacts, and how we can assist our businesses in adapting to those changes. My mayoral stewardship covers the entirety of the village.

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?

Our village financial rating has gone from A+ to AA-. Some of that financial improvement is due to increasing our reserves.

Going forward I will carefully monitor inflation and potential impacts of inflation. In addition, if we don’t receive expected grants those planned projects will need to be either curtailed or other funding will have to be obtained. An example of an expected grant and planned project is for Hawley Street reconstruction east of 45.

I plan to continue the on-going efficiency measures in place for both personnel and process improvements. Inflation and grant changes may result in re-evaluation and reprioritization of all planned projects.

Future budget planning has to balance the needs of the village to run efficiently, and the financial concerns of the constituents.

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?

Road construction and improvement has always been a high priority with residents and I will make every effort to address roads in poor condition. Hawley Street reconstruction was previously mentioned. McKinley Avenue is a project long put off due to costs. Instead of trying to obtain grant monies or fund all at once, I propose that this project should be done in phases under the normal street program funding.

A third fire station proposed in the new Wirtz project is looking for grant opportunities to partially fund this project. In order to account for growth and acceptable fire response times, a western station becomes more important.

Additional parking in the downtown area, and near events is a high priority that could be delayed if a poor economy becomes a reality.

Flooding still occurs in some areas of town and I will deal with these situations with monies planned under a previous board and not utilized.

Economic uncertainty can delay one or more of these planned projects.

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

Top priorities include fairly interviewing and replacing my vacant trustee position; meeting with all department heads on their needs; meeting with all trustees and fostering training and a culture where all questions and discussions are welcome during board meetings.

Additionally, it is important to create a culture where it is okay to disagree on an issue without censure. Having differing opinions is important in a village as diverse as Mundelein. Civil discussion and working through differences in opinions results in reaching consensus and better decisions made for the village. It is up to leadership to determine and institute the culture of acceptance, inclusion, and how to civilly work through differences of positions and opinions to reach consensus.

I've had considerable experience in this type of culture during my career and plan to bring these principles to my tenure as mayor. It is possible to disagree on an issue in the board room and then “civilly go to lunch” after a meeting. Disagreements on positions should not be taken personally.

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

Addressing vacancies with a vacant building registration process to ensure that the vacant spaces are safe, that vacant spaces aren’t storing hazardous materials or aren’t a fire hazard, and that they don’t detract from surrounding businesses. I will utilize a registration process as a positive action to getting those vacancies safe, attractive as possible, and occupied.

Start livestreaming and recording planning and zoning commission and finance committee meetings This is important so that the public is aware of projects and decisions that directly impact them before those projects get to the village board meetings. It also provides the public more time to review, provide input, and identify concerns to a project before final decisions are made by the village board.

I will institute surveys to find out why residents and businesses leave or move out of Mundelein. These surveys could also be used to attract residents and businesses to Mundelein by identifying what is needed, what works, and what doesn’t work.

Please visit my English/Spanish website for more specific ideas and plans.