Syed Hussain: 2025 candidate for Wheaton City Council North District

Bio

Office sought: Wheaton City Council North District

City: Wheaton

Age: 50

Occupation: No answer given

Previous offices held: Vice chair of Wheaton's Historic Commission

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

Service is one of my three priorities because our city services should match resident needs more closely. We need to use data and available technology to improve the city council’s low progress on this strategic goal.

Understanding which services are essential, finding innovative ways to get input from residents and stakeholders, and improving communication are critical for increasing our city’s value for everyone.

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?

Unity is a top priority for me, including a unified understanding and approach to Wheaton’s midterm and long-range needs.

Wheaton’s conservative fiscal posture has kept the tax levy level for many years, however it hides our aging infrastructure and higher overall costs since the pandemic when the Incumbent came in unopposed.

Transparently balancing a conservative cost burden on residents is needed, so that we can successfully replace service buildings for police, fire, and public works when needed.

Innovative new strategies and a holistic viewpoint are required to achieve this, that I bring from a career helping firms grow and scale. I use data and analytics to make decisions and communicate, and will use this approach to find the unseen areas where spending can be curtailed, and successfully explain them to residents.

What do you see as the most important infrastructure project the community 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?

I’ve identified growth as another of my three priorities because a number of buildings are approaching the end of their useful life. And while we’ve set aside funding to pay for these, we need to work together to increase that cushion and develop creative revenue sources.

My background and collaborative experience helping nonprofits from the mosque and scouts, to regional organizations will be invaluable as we increase foot traffic to our retail areas and share in more of the revenue generated. As I’ve done in my career, I’ll work with our community partners to broaden Wheaton’s appeal to visitors by adding activities and harnessing our diversity to create growth in our financial reserves.

Describe your experience working in a group setting to determine policy. What is your style in such a setting to reach an agreement and manage local government? Explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions with your city council.

I routinely bring executives and leaders together to chart the path forward, assess how we’re doing versus the plan, and determine policies to correct for next time. Listening, empathizing, and communicating with real examples and visuals works, just like when talking to a group of scouts about the big hike, or the board/leadership team for a large event that requires detailed logistics to host and manage successfully.

By bringing my leadership style and collaborative way of including others in decision-making, we will operate as a single team unit to produce more effective actions.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

In addition to raising my family and giving back to the local community, I'll bring professional skills from 20-plus years as a leader in technology and business to Wheaton’s city council.

We need to change how we serve residents, help our businesses grow, and create opportunities to unify our community using innovative ways and listening to our constituents.

I’m an established connector who knows how to bring people together, work with organizations to improve partnerships, benchmark Wheaton and use the data to improve how the city operates. These are new ideas and methods that are overdue and this is the right time to leap forward into the future together.

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

Among the many ways Wheaton can lead is by making our buildings more green to give benefits back to the community. I’ll work on our goals for sustainability by bringing a range of ideas on water, energy, reuse, and more. With our partner agencies, city council can lead by example and also generate savings, while we work together for a better Wheaton.