Robert Greer: Candidate Profile

Back to Winfield Village Board

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: WinfieldWebsite: www.WinfieldKeepTheMomentum.comOffice sought: Winfield Village Board Age: 60Family: Linda (wife) Robert (son), Jennifer (daughter-in-law), Katie (granddaughter), Robert Lincoln (grandson) Nathaniel (son), Melonie (daughter-in-law), Avelina (granddaughter), Colton (grandson) Richard (brother), Patty (sister)Occupation: College ProfessorEducation: M.A. Wheaton College Ph.D. Marquette UniversityCivic involvement: Member of the Winfield Plan Commission Editor of The Winfield Register Editor/Publisher of The Winfield ExpressElected offices held: Commissioner of Winfield Plan CommissionQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am the best candidate for Winfield trustee because of my depth of knowledge of Winfield's history, understanding of current policies, and my dedication to ethical government. My background is as an academic and an author, and my interest has led me to study Winfield's history back to 1849. I studied its politics from that early period to the present day, with a special interest in the politics that transpired since the village presidency of John Walde (1985-1993) to the current village presidency of Erik Spande (2013-present). My understanding of local politics is due to my work for two area newspapers, where I covered Winfield events in detail for the last eight years. In addition, I serve on the Winfield Plan Commission and have had extensive exposure to the nuts-and-bolts of development in my village. As to ethics, I was involved in the complaints filed to the State's Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office regarding Open Meetings Act violations by certain village trustees that are running for re-election. My involvement deepened my convictions for open government and public participation and awareness. We must trust our residents.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.Winfield had no local sales tax until two years ago. During the past two years, residents voted twice in binding referendums to increase our sales tax rate by 1/4 of 1 cent. Residents likely will be asked to vote on two more 1/4 cent incremental increases. If passed, the total 1 % increase passed in four elections would bring our Village's sales tax rate in line with surrounding communities. I support this process of citizen input on how they want to manage their community. I am fine with our present level of property tax assessments. I do not support doubling of our property taxes as was proposed in 2012 by Trustees Reyes, Olson, Hughes and Allen.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?Winfield's fire coverage is handled by the Winfield Fire Protection District, which is a separate taxing body so I will not address that specific issue. As to the Police Department, Winfield thankfully has a very low crime rate. My understanding is that our Police Department is adequately staffed and the department has sufficient equipment. A concern I have is the police pension fund. Similar to other municipalities, Winfield currently is about 50% funded. The Village has, to the best of my understanding, never missed a pension payment and has been investing more than the actuarially recommend amount to the fund - about $650K a year, which is a lot for Winfield. However, by state law Winfield is required to be at the 80% funding level in 2040. One method we need to take to have the funds to fund pensions is to increase our revenues through development. We have started on that path through development of the new Comprehensive Plan and subsequent implementation actions. We are also working to improve the returns on the police pension fund, where the Village currently is collegially partnering with our PPB to improve the police pension fund rate of return. That also will help. But most importantly - the long term solution is pension reform by the State of Illinois. All municipalities must demand that Springfield take action - now.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Winfield has been continuously cutting its budget and finding efficiencies. This must not stop - we owe it to our residents to continue to find better and cheaper ways to provide key services and infrastructure. Trustees also need to explore ways to collaborate with other units of government - an example would be partnering with Du Page County for bulk buying of road salt. Another recent example making sure we finally repaired our badly damaged roads at an extremely low cost. We have now repaved all of our major roads with grants! And between grants and our road bond, Winfield is currently repairing 40% of all of our roads in 18 months. This is a monumental achievement for any town, and it will save millions a year in unnecessary road repair costs. That's real savings. And our village has never looked better - increasing property values and pride in our town.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I believe that Winfield needs to partner with Central DuPage Hospital towards solutions to needs that would be mutually beneficial to both entities. CDH has a need for expanded parking and office space. The village has a need for commercial development in the Town Center District. Winfield provides about $330,000 annually in services to the hospital. The hospital, as a non-profit hospital, receives these services for free. It is not right that Winfield taxpayers should subsidize CDH when it makes over $185,000,000 a year in profits. Instead, CDH should partner with Winfield so that we can work together to meet their needs while ensuring that Winfield's needs are also met - a mutually beneficial relationship.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I strongly believe in ethical government. The ethics ordinance in Winfield was severely gutted in 2012, due to the vote of Tony Reyes, Jay Olson, Jim Hughes and Tim Allen. This resulted in a lack of accountability and fact-checking by the trustees as they sought independent negotiations with differing entities in and near Winfield (such as commercial contractors, our local school board, and hospital staff). This resulted in chaos as Village Hall and slowed the process of the commercial redevelopment of the village. As editor of The Winfield Express, I wrote an article on the ethics of one of the current trustees, was sued by that trustee, and won my case in court (Judge Dorothy French threw the case out of court on the grounds that the suit was "meritless" and "retaliatory." This whole episode, however, speaks my deep interest in ethical government. I am also interested in the completion of the Comprehensive Development Plan and its soon implementation within the village. It is here where theory transitions into practice. This transition needs careful attention so that it indeed turns that corner and results in genuine commercial redevelopment of Winfield.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Billy Graham--though now old, his life work is an inspiration to me.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Live as an honest person. A corollary is to treat people fairly.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have remained serving as a missionary in Mexico with the Aztec Indians.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I loved history. It has helped me understand past trends and future possibilities/problems.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Live your life to the service of God.