Bruce Kaplan: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: CaryWebsite: http://www.brucekaplanforcarymayor.comOffice sought: Cary Village President (4-year Term)Age: 63Family: Married, 4 children, 5 grandchildrenOccupation: Commercial Real Estate Broker at Premier Commercial RealtyEducation: Masters Degree in Finance, University of Illinois, 1974 Bachelors Degree in Communications, Univ. of Illinois, 1972Civic involvement: former member of Cary Grove Jaycess member Cary-Grove Chamber of Commerce former President of Cary Grove Business Association former coach, Cary Youth Basketball former member, District 26 School Board Referendum, 1981 former member of Cary Economic Development Committee current Cary Village TrusteeElected offices held: Cary Village Trustee, 5/2011-currentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No criminal recordCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Broaden the real estate tax base to take the upward pressure off the residents. We need to make Cary competitive with surrounding towns that are competing for new businesses and development. Instill a service oriented culture with Village Staff that makes it clear that we WANT their new business in our town. Remove identified roadblocks and impediments such as outdated building and zoning codes, uncompetitive permit and impact fees, excessive plan review requirements and response times. We need to learn to say "yes" to every reasonable request.Key Issue 2 Continue to create more transparency by putting all ordinances on the Village website. Update Municipal Ordinance Book (it is WAY outdated) and establish a new procedure to keep it up to date. Double the number of Cary residents who subscribe to Cary News Weekly e-newsletter.Key Issue 3 Seek new revenue sources to help offset flat revenues but NOT do so on the backs of local businesses or residents. We initiated Administrative Adjudication this year which was our first effort at this type of revenue enhancement.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?It has been a true honor to be elected by the people of Cary as their trustee since April of 2011. As a 37 year resident and small businessman, I have "sold" the benefits of living in Cary to residents and businesses every single day. I had the pleasure of serving on the Economic Development Committee for 7 years as well as a number of business and civic groups such as the Jaycees, Cary Youth Basketball, past President of McHenry County Assn. of Realtors (now Heartland Realtor Organization) and others. I share a unique perspective of the hurdles many small businesses have to face when looking to expand or relocate to Cary. I know first hand their frustrations with inequitable, confusing and many times costly decisions this Village has made at their expense. I plan to change that.Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.The rate is fine. The quantity of sales tax revenue needs to be enhanced by encouraging more retail businesses to locate in Cary. That is one of the primary reasons we recently voted to hire a Community and Economic Development Coordinator.Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.In my first term as Trustee, we dealt with a number of public safety related issues: 1) a group of residents came to the Board and asked that we update the dog ordinances and we did that, 2) we initiated a Citizen's Police academy to better bridge the gap between the police and the residents, 3) we initiated an administrative adjudication procedure, 4) we voted to put cameras in police cars 5) we initiated a sergeant's promotion list and testing for same. There is no single burning issue that I know of regarding public safety but as issues come up, we are very responsive.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Over the last several years the Village has undergone some gut wrenching expense cuts mainly by cutting staff. Personnel costs for salaries and benefits are in the range of 75-80% of our $7+ million dollar budget. Outsourcing services is one possible way to save money. Our newest approach to trimming the budget is to undergo joint bidding with other communities to use the power of large numbers to get better pricing. We just did that with our new auditors.I can't think of an area where we are underfunded except I am concerned that we used up all our bonds for road improvements which allowed us to get a jump on future road repairs. We enjoyed 3 years of above average road repairs but now we have to pay the piper (bond interest and principal) and we won't have the same quantity of dollars to do the work needed.Our residents deserve good streets.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I think the Police Dept facility is not as accommodating to our officers and residents as it should be. They were given a facility several years ago and forced to make it work but if you saw the conditions over there, you would agree a town our size should do better. This may be a long range plan, but we need to think about how we are going to give our police dept a better facility.