Jim Schelling: 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: RoselleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Roselle Village President (4-year Term)Age: 51Family: Divorced, three children: David - 20, Taylor - 18, Brett - 14. I am the oldest of three sons, my father passed away in 2002 and my mother is still living in Roselle. My brothers also reside in Roselle.Occupation: Territory Manager for Rochester Midland Corp. A specialty chemical company specializing in green chemistry.Education: Double major: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Marketing, Carthage College, 1983Civic involvement: Since moving out here in 1981, my father being a pastor, worked with other leaders in the community on many projects. With that being said, my family and I have always been very active in this community for over 30 years. Currently, my family and I regularly attend many civic functions through out the year, including the Rose Festival and parade along with Taste of Roselle and other events. Also, Park District baseball for my sons.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Being fiscally responsible which means balancing the budget! We need to put our house in order by balancing the budget and then work on building a reserve of cash, especially when hard economic times hit.Key Issue 2 We need to get the people in our community active and involved. Ultimately, each and every issue we discuss needs to be presented to our residents and decided upon by them. This is their home town and they need to be proactive in making decisions regarding this community. We need to have them buy into the fact that they do have a say so in things that happen in our community and that they have ownership in the things that go on in this village.Key Issue 3 We need to figure out what we are going to do with our downtown area. In getting out and meeting with many resident's this was the #1 concern. We need a new vision, with fresh ideas and opportunities. Obviously, we have way too many vacant store fronts and it has been this way for quite some time now. Keeping the same administration and status quo is not the answer. We need a leader that can sell our downtown, with a clear vision for it's attributes, opportunities and potential.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?First and foremost, I am a leader. With my background, being a preachers kid, I was always involved in my father's churches - from making hospital calls with him, delivering bulletins to elderly members to working at Oktoberfest's and the list could go on. I learned at an early age how to treat people and how to work well with them. Playing college football and being in sales has also taught me how to work together in a team environment for the betterment of the team. Also, my tenure within the community, over 30 years plus, has provided me with a good working knowledge of what my neighbors and fellow residents are happy about as well as not happy about.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.In all my years as a resident, I have never heard anyone complain about our local sales tax. Therefore, this would lead me to believe that we are about just right in that area.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.Traffic on side streets seems to be of concern along with a growing issue of serious crimes, for example burglaries and break ins. These issues should be addressed by our local residents calling them in if they notice something out of the ordinary and then an increased police presence. One other issue that residents have told me about is skate park safety along with growing concerns as to drug use and sales at the park. This could be monitored by having a greater police presence at the park.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?I am sure that we could streamline some of the things that we do as a village. Until I would take office and do a complete analysis of our costs along with job functions I could not answer as to where we would look to do that. Also, I would inquire of each department head as to how much waste we could trim from each department. However, I am fairly confident that there are always ways to improve, streamline and make things more effective and efficient.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?We need to have a congregating place in the heart of our downtown for our residents. A location where the community can sit and relax with a cup of coffee, soda or other beverage and read The Daily Herald, a novel, talk or just enjoy the day in the heart of our downtown. Also, we need more parking so that people can park and walk to the new storefronts that will be opening. Whether that be a multilevel parking garage or ground level spaces. Again, I go back to the first and foremost point - we need our residents involved as to what they would like to see. Lastly, bring our village board meetings on the road in the community to our local schools to give our residents a reason to get involved.