Thomas Hood: 2025 candidate for Gurnee mayor

Bio

Office Sought: Gurnee mayor

City: Gurnee

Age: 64

Occupation: Attorney, Mayor of Gurnee since 2021

Previous offices held: Village of Gurnee Trustee (2013-21); Village of Gurnee zoning board chairman

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?

My heart and passion are to see the village of Gurnee prosper in all ways. I grew up here, I raised my family here, my boys are raising their families here, I have my business here. I am all in.

I have worked hard over the last four years to deliver on my campaign promise to build a stronger, safer and more unified Gurnee. I led the most aggressive hiring of police officers in village history and added state-of-the-art safety equipment. We added 400 new businesses and provided assistance to our existing ones, adding to our financial base and helping our reserves recover from the pandemic. Our finances have never been better.

I have had a community focus, bringing us together after the isolation of the pandemic and restoring a sense of community and belonging.

I am passionate about and gifted at empowering others. I enjoy finding a group of residents with a similar passion, putting them together with a purpose and working with them to enrich our community.

What makes me the best candidate for the position are my education, skill set as an attorney, business connections in the community, my 30+ years of municipal experience and the results I have obtained.

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

Communities across the nation are becoming more and more isolated and divided, impacting the average resident’s quality of life.

I believe we all long for a sense of purpose, community and belonging.

I have begun the “Neighbor Up” Block Party Grant program providing a $500 grant to the neighborhood and appearances by me, police department and fire department to facilitate a block party. Last year, we had 23 block parties. Watching the children and adults enjoy each other, many for the first time in years, was a pleasure.

I have added new events in town for residents to attend with the assistance of the Gurnee Park District — Bonfire and Brews, Christmas Tree Lighting (a Hallmark movie type event) and the like.

I've added resident commissions such as the arts commission, the veteran's commission and East Side Commission where like-minded residents can work together to enrich our community.

This provides easy, local ways for residents to spend time with each other that will in turn reduce some of the tension and isolation the pandemic and the recent political divisiveness has created and improve the quality of Village life.

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?

During this past four years the village of Gurnee finances have literally never been better. This fact is nothing short of amazing considering that in 2020 we faced civil unrest followed by a pandemic in 2021. The village has had steady annual increase of revenue (approximately 4% annually) paired with conservative spending that has resulted in a current reserve of more than $70 million, well-funded pensions and the lowest debt of any community that has more than 25,000 residents in the state of Illinois.

Top priorities for spending revolve around supporting the best village services in Lake County. Investing in the employee base with wages, benefits and wellness; training, equipment and facilities. Constantly improving our infrastructure so that what we have received we can pass on in even better condition to the generations to come.

We are blessed during these last four years to not have had to curtail any planned spending. However, continued conservative spending and the search for ways to reduce the cost of doing what we do is always under my scrutiny.

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?

The village has done an excellent job of investing in infrastructure over the last four years. In fact, the amount invested last year was the most ever in the history of the village.

The village must re-pave or rebuild at least six miles of roadway each year for the roads to stay in their current condition. Last year more than 7.5 miles of roadway were completed.

The replacement of water mains has not been at the pace necessary to put us in as good of place as the roadways and therefore has demanded our immediate attention.

A plan is currently being developed to reduce the difficult times our community will face if we do not start investing more heavily in the replacement of water mains.

At this point the village has a healthy general fund that can afford replacing water mains if planned for today.

Every year I ask each department two questions. The first is to dream without financial restriction. This encourages creativity and innovation. The second is to designate what they can do without if we hit financial hard times.

So, as we sit here today every department has a project or two that is slated to go on the back burner if needed.

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

I would describe my leadership style as a servant leader. My job is to serve and empower others. I have found that when others realize that you have their best interests at heart, they are willing to follow.

This style of leadership has been effective for me during this past four years as mayor as the success of the village speaks for itself. My leadership style is also reaffirmed by the fact that five of the current trustees support my reelection.

The only exception is my opponent who indicates that he does not have any objection to what I have done as mayor but that he thinks it would be fun to be mayor.

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

I have just begun the process of creating the Gurnee Care Commission. This is a commission made up of Gurnee residents that are committed to assisting residents with needs in the Gurnee community. These needs can range from children that lack proper clothing, assisting the homeless, providing food for those in need and more. The commission will be given the authority to define what needs they will look to meet and how they will do it.