Jack Schmerer: 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: Buffalo GroveWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Buffalo Grove Park Board (4-year Terms)Age: 58Family: Married 31 years, 2 children, 1 grandchildOccupation: Audio-Visual ConsultantEducation: BS in Communications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1976Civic involvement: Deerfield Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD)Elected offices held: Buffalo Grove Park District Commissioner since 2005, elected twice. This will be my third 4-year term.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continuing to expand and maintain the great programs we offer the residents.Key Issue 2 Keeping the park district fiscally sound and responsible.Key Issue 3 Continuing to improve relationships with other local governmental agencies in Buffalo Grove.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?Offering the residents an outdoor pool is almost always a losing proposition for most park districts. But it's something we must have and the residents we really want. We continue to look for new revenue streams and ways to be efficient when it comes to the outdoor pool.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.We already have 51 parks and over 400 acres of open space. We don't have any immediate need or desire to acquire any additional open space. Should a large tract of open land become available down the road, we will certainly consider acquiring it.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?We have always wanted to offer more in the way of performing arts programs. With the recent acquisition of Temple Beth Am, that we are turning into a performing arts center, we will be able do that over the next couple of years.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?We already have intergovernmental agreements with a few of the school districts and the village. So yes, we support sharing/pooling resources. Our staff continues to look for ways to be more efficient within those agreements.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.During my 8 years on the board we have acquired a building for a performing arts center (Temple Beth Am), built Twin Creeks Park and Happy Tails Dog Park. We have added the Vitality Spa to our Fitness Center and improved the management of the Center. We also helped fund the new field turf at BG High School and worked out an agreement to use the field for our programs when the high school is not using it.