LAURA ANDERSEN: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: Campton HillsWebsite: FirearmandCarryTraining.comOffice sought: Campton Hills Village Board Age: 64Family: Husband- Chris Sons- Peter and MatthewOccupation: Firearm Instructor, Medical Technologist (A.S.C.P.), Cooking instructorEducation: Bachelors in Chemistry with Medical Technology National Certification from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, Florida Atlantic University, 1975Civic involvement: Volunteer Boy Scout Leader since 1992 Volunteer Hunter Education,Tree stand safety and Becoming an Outdoor Woman instructor for the IL Dept. of Natural Resources since 2004 Trustee for Campton Hills since 2008 Trout Unlimited Fly Fishing Instructor St. Charles Sportsmans Club member, Rochelle Conservation Club member, Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow Instructor for the Wildlife Management Institute Conceal Carry Instructor for IllinoisElected offices held: Village Trustee, Emergency Preparedness Liaison Trustee, President Pro-tem, Cities of Service Lead for the grant awarded last year to the Village for establishing emergency response infrastructure and programsQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Since 2008 I have served as the liaison to Kane County Emergency Services for Emergency Response. Under my tenure in this position and working with Village staff, we have accomplished the following: we now have a statewide public works mutual aid agreement for the Village, we held our first Safety Fair this past August 2014, Coordinated with our Village Administrator and Emergency consultant in getting our first tornado siren to be installed in the near future. Are working on the finalizing our Village Emergency Operation Plan, we held a Well and Septic Safety Seminar for our residents this past Fall, established a relationship with Elburn's Citizen Emergency Response Team for coordinated emergency responses between our Villages, scheduling Red Cross emergency preparation programs designed for young students on tornado disasters for our two elementary schools, and getting Emergency outreach training on the Village website. And trained 75+ Lead Volunteers for emergency response. In addition, I have taken and am still taking advanced incident command courses in order to be better prepared for responding to various disaster situations. I believe in representative government and am diligent in studying village situations so that I can make educated decisions in which the majority of our residents are served on all issues coming before the Village Board.What is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales and property taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.I think our 1 percent sales tax rate is adequate and one of the lowest rates of our surrounding communities. I would like to see a concerted effort to fill our empty business locations. The Economic Development Committee can be a key driver of filling our limited commercial space. As a Trustee I would like to support cost effective innovative ideas with coordinated efforts between the committee and business owners for maximizing business results. Kane County levies our property taxes; the Village does not levy any property taxes and has no municipal taxes. It is my belief that taxing bodies should always look for ways to lessen the tax burden on tax payers.Rate the efficiency of your town's police and fire coverage. Are the departments well prepared for the next decade? What, if anything, should be changed? Do you have specific public safety concerns?Our Police department has strong leadership with Chief Dan Hoffman at the helm, the department consists of highly trained and experienced officers. Because of this the department enjoys high morale, and a good reputation for being very responsive to the community's needs. They have continuously earned service awards since our incorporation. Our Village is served by five Fire Districts, all their own units of government. We have been working to establish relationships with all of them and they all contributed to the success of our Safety fair. Sustainability of both Police and Fire services with the pension issues plaguing our State is a concern for not just our community. The mandatory manning law is another statewide concern that could financially burden all Fire Departments and possibly Police Departments in the future. Being serviced with good Public Safety is always an expected benefit in an established community. It's the level of such service and cost for that service that creates a position that needs balancing.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Legal fees have skyrocketed this past year but are expected to be drastically reduced after the election. Unfortunately, the Trustees have been forced for to focus on operational and personnel issues. These issues have caused high turnover of skilled employees. For the first time in our history we have an experienced Village Administrator that has developed a timely and organized budgeting process which is currently underway. She has initiated a sequence that gathers input from Village staff, Committees and the Village Board to determine critical needs and areas of the budget that can be reduced. I'm excited to have such a synergistic approach for the Village budgeting process. As Emergency Response Liaison, I would like to see more of the budget dedicated when possible, to early response systems such as tornado sirens for the whole community, and "code red alerts" for emergency notifications,etc.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?We have not established a Village Emergency Response Committee and would like to see one established. I believe it is my obligation to promote knowledge of emergency preparation for my community in order to foster an independent, "can do" mind set in as many residents as we can for surviving disasters .What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?That we bring this Village to a point where we can flourish in a peaceful, safe, and prosperous community. Focusing on the needs of our community and its residents. This will require stronger leadership and a more democratic approach to operating the Village's government operations.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany. She played a lead role in managing Europe's Debt crisis. We could learn from her style.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?That you know the result of what you are going to get if you don't try.....exactly what you have now.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Taking better care of my own health such as exercising and wearing sun screen by starting at an earlier age. Hindsight!What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Science, I entered the medical field to help people. Learning the benefits of and getting great satisfaction of helping other people, in all areas possible.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Live your life with adventure, curiousity, giving back when you can with your acquired skills and doing it all with someone special in your life.