Cheryl Ross: 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: GurneeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Gurnee Village Board Age: 63Family: Married for 40 years to David Ross. Three adult children: Laura (Murfreesboro, TN), Michael (Hong Kong), Amy (Gurnee).Occupation: Retired teacher. Taught at Woodland District #50 for 35 years: 1st grade, 2nd grade, Elementary MatEducation: B.S. in Elementary Education from Carroll College. M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from National-Louis University.Civic involvement: Founding member of Bethel Lutheran Church, Chairman of Board for Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Lake County), Exchange Club of Gurnee, Supporter of COOL Food Pantries and Family Housing, Supporter of Love INC of Lake County, Warren Historical Society, Chaired the committee to develop Welton Plaza.Elected offices held: Village of Gurnee Trustee, 2007-2015 Gurnee Plan Commission, 1999-2007Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I am the most experienced and qualified candidate in the field. I have lived in Gurnee all of my life and I want it to remain a great place to live, work, and raise a family. The experience I have gained as a Trustee for the past eight years is invaluable. My dad, Gordon Gillings, was Mayor of Gurnee for 24 years before Dick Welton, so I grew up with an understanding of Village business and operations. I taught at Woodland School for 35 years, raised my family in Gurnee, served on the Plan Commission for 8 years, and have been a Village Trustee for 8 years. Serving on the Visit Lake County Board has given me a broader community perspective and I often say, "What is good for Lake County is good for Gurnee and what is good for Gurnee is good for Lake County."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.We rely on sales and amusement taxes for most of our services. These taxes are at a reasonable level at this time. We currently do not have a property tax for the Village. This means that we do not have a dedicated fund for pensions and other services, so as a Village we are dependent on the health of the local economy at any given time. Therefore we must continue our efforts to support tourism and retail activities.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?We have excellent public services that are dedicated and well prepared for the next decade. Employees of our public works department take their job seriously and do detailed planning for all areas of responsibility. Our fire department is one of the busiest in the state and they are highly trained. The department was short staffed for a while but that is being resolved with recent recruit hires. Our police department is highly respected. They do an excellent job for our residents and all the visitors that we have each year. The Village administrative staff is outstanding and keeps modernizing our services. Technology helps to provide the right services in the most efficient ways. By constantly exploring new technologies we can continue to provide the best services.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?We are just beginning our budget process for the year. This year we were able to increase our Capital Fund to improve roads and to invest in our infrastructure. I always feel sorry for our public works people when they have to repair water main breaks in the harsh winter. I wish we had more money to replace the aging pipes in the summer, but that is very costly. One way our Village departments have helped to supplement our budget is through successful grant writing. The fire department received a $55,00 grant to purchase books and other materials for schools and local libraries. They also secured $256,000 to replace outdated self-contained breathing apparatus through a 90/10 Homeland Security grant. In this case the Village is only responsible for 10% of the cost of the total grant award. The public works also recently received grant funding to upgrade streetlights to LED technology. Hopefully other departments can take advantage of new grant opportunities.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Our population is aging and we have somewhat addressed it with senior living options such as: Gurnee Meadows, Heritage Woods, Thomas Place, and Autumn Leaves. However, additional services may be necessary. Some examples include: ways to check on our seniors during emergency situations, or providing transportation services for those that are no longer able to drive.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?We have had an economic development committee and now we have an economic development director. She will be gathering information from current businesses and identifying other business opportunities for growth and development. This will continue to broaden our sales tax base, which in turn can be spent on public services. We must maintain good working relationships with the Lake County Convention and Visitor's Bureau, our state and national legislators, the Lake County Board, other taxing bodies and other communities. We have high quality, dedicated department heads and staff. It is important to cultivate and maintain the best possible personnel for our community. We have started the Welton Village Plaza project and I look forward to seeing that through to completion. We are pleased that AKAHN Semiconductor has chosen to locate its world headquarters in Gurnee. It is a special point of pride that founder Adam Kahn was educated at Woodland and Warren Township and now wants to give back to this community.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Mayor Krysti Kovarik is full of energy, loves Gurnee and is always thinking of ways to improve the lives of our citizens and village employees.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I was taught to give back to the community, have civic pride, respect all people, and treat others as you would want to be treated.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?There are no do-overs, so I prefer to learn from the past and move forward. I like to look ahead and plan for the future.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?I loved school and had many favorite subjects, especially math. I liked figuring out the puzzle of numbers and logic. I still like problem solving.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?I would say to respect all people and treat others as you want to be treated.