Mike Kozel: 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: BarringtonWebsite: TBAOffice sought: Barrington Village Board Age: 61Family: Sam age 29 Jake age 26 Both Went through the Barrington school systemOccupation: Building ContractorEducation: Under Grad Business Roosevelt University graduated Magnum Cum Laude MBA Northern Illinois graduated with honorsCivic involvement: Past member Rotary Volunteer 4th of July parade, Barrington Brew Fest, Coach of youth baseball, worked o a project for Station Middle School, Member Barrington Chamber Of Commence active in attending events through out the year I spend a great deal of time talking with 100's of residents about current issues affecting our Village I attend most Barrington Board Meeting and commenting when appropriateElected offices held: PendingQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?My business education and business experience are part of the qualifications that will help me serve residents in order to make Barrington a better place to live. I have a wealth of experience in the construction industry. This involved collaborating with engineers and architects along customers to see projects to successful conclusions. My understanding of roads and road construction, other various infrastructure projects give me a unique opportunity to bring this expertise to the board. I have no issues with ego, I am able to work with others and will champion plans that I did not originate.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.Property taxes on residents is becoming more and more burdensome Property values have stagnated while Real Estate taxes increase every year Taxing bodies raise this tax each year calming the need to do so or loose the compounding effect. High Real Estate taxes have an inverse effect on value. One of our goals in running for the Board is to increase the empty nester population this will increase our tax base while not putting a burden on our schools which account for +or- 60% of a tax bill. Recent efforts to revitalize the Barrington downtown have come at the expense of other taxing bodies. Residents must make up the shortfalls by way of Real Estate Taxes. The sales tax percentage is fine, a prosperous downtown area is what is needed. Simply increasing the amount of retail space does little to help increase revenue, often cannibalizing from current stores. What is needed is to increase the overall amount of business generated. Looking to other more successful commuter downtowns a common thread is more dense residential development around the commuter station. Much of the residential home in the Barrington downtown have been converted to office space leaving a void of residents.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?The Barrington Fire Department has recently been split from the Barrington Countryside Fire Department. I think it is far to early to judge the success or failure of this adventure. Barrington has been left with an older group of fire fighters that are asked to put in as much as 25% of hours in overtime. The question of how the will effect moral and family life will need a longer sample size. I would like to see more interaction between the police and teenagers. Often times teens have an adversarial relationship with police and more interaction could ease some of these tensions. I not sure our department is keeping up with the latest innovations in fighting crime. My own residence was effected by someone throwing a rock through my front bay window. shortly after the window was repaired another rock would break it. This went on two more times. The same individual was targeting several properties along my road until finally the subject was caught by viewing camera footage from a business affected. Surveillance cameras on our main thoroughfares could be used to monitor daily activities with minimum manpower.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I would like to trim our legal expenses. Fighting the CN, while a noble cause has yielded few tangible results. The plan to fight the rail road has suffered from mission creep. What started out as a plan to stop the original purchase has morphed into a plan to have a voice in CN operations through the STB. One of the unintended conquiences was to have the board STB rule that in order to make freight travel through Illinois safer trains hauling oil would go around more populated areas and has resulted in this traffic now going through Barrington. Where we need to focus is on infrastructureWhat's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I don't know if it is an entirely new idea as I have discussed it with many residents in order to solicit their opinion. I want to see a permanent site for village celebrations like the tent at the fourth of July, the Art Fest , Kinder fest and others. The Village owns property in the area known as the Golden Triangle which could be used for this purpose.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I don't know if it is an entirely new idea as I have discussed it with many residents in order to solicit their opinion. I want to see a permanent site for village celebrations like the tent at the fourth of July, the Art Fest , Kinder fest and others. The Village owns property in the area known as the Golden Triangle which could be used for this purpose.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Warren BuffetWhat's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?How to work with others andIf life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have studied harder youngerWhat was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?History, learning from the pastIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Live Love Laugh