Deborah Bullwinkel: 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: Villa ParkWebsite: http://www.BullwinkelforPresident.comOffice sought: Villa Park Village President (4-year Term)Age: 44Family: Married for 18 years, no children, four nieces -- Hailey, Emily, Gwen and Vivienne -- and one nephew -- Owen. We also have one dog, Colby our Golden Retriever, and 3 cats, Skylar, Daley and Scooter.Occupation: Self-employed as a communications consultant since 1999 with a concentration in convention and meeting planning. I also enjoy working as a voice-over talent.Education: B.A., Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, 1990 Major: Speech Communication Minor: JournalismCivic involvement: * Currently serve as Trustee, Village of Villa Park Board of Trustees (elected in the April 7, 2009 consolidated election) * Board liaison, Village of Villa Park Environmental Concerns Commission * Board liaison, Village of Villa Park Cable Commission * Village of Villa Park Representative, Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Transit Oriented Development Steering Committee * Member, Villa Park Chamber of Commerce * Block Captain, Neighborhood Watch Program * Committee Member, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago Policy Committee * Member, Meeting Professionals InternationalElected offices held: Trustee, Village of Villa Park (current position)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 My number one campaign issue is to continue to seek economic development opportunities for Villa Park. This will provide much-needed jobs and generate revenue to help pay for infrastructure projects and Village services. During my tenure on the Villa Park Board of Trustees, we have crossed the finish line on a number of projects, including the much-anticipated Sonic Drive-In Restaurant on Roosevelt Road and the Motor Cycle Center (MCC) on St. Charles Road, which now occupies the once vacant property of the former Oakfield Ford dealership. I'd like to keep this positive energy flowing for Villa Park. In addition to the pending redevelopment of our Transit Oriented Development (TOD) area around the Metra train station, our North Avenue corridor is ripe for the redevelopment pickens, and I believe is on the verge of a major transformation. Bone Roofing Supply will be relocating from Chicago to a 10-acre site right off of North Avenue in Villa Park, and major changes lie ahead for North Park Mall, located on North Avenue, that I believe will serve as a catalyst for future redevelopment on North Avenue. The future is bright for Villa Park. We are on the move, and it's critical to keep things headed in the right direction.Key Issue 2 My number two campaign issue is to create a Village of Villa Park Strategic Plan. Plain and simple, we don't have a masterplan? for Villa Park. Who are we? What do we want to accomplish? How do we get there? The Village of Villa Park Strategic Plan will serve as a day-to-day/month-to-month/year-to-year Village operations "blueprint" that the Village Board and Staff can follow together, as a team, to help ensure we achieve our goals and follow a solid and secure fiscal path as we move forward with the evolution of Villa Park. Ideally, our strategic plan will supplement Villa Park's Comprehensive Plan, which is a compilation ofbigger picture? suggestions and ideas for the future but lacks execution strategies. I envision linking the Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Plan, working concurrently to help the Village of Villa Park accomplish its goals. We will review our progress quarterly, annually or as often as necessary to regularly assess our status to keep us on track.Key Issue 3 My number three campaign issue is to pursue proactive policing strategies to increase visibility of our police in Villa Park. It's no secret that Villa Park has its fair share of crime; weekly police reports and news articles serve as reminders of the realities of living in a major metropolitan area. I believe we can tackle these challenges, in part, by increasing our visibility in town. We need to be seen more often in our Villa Park neighborhoods and business districts. Other towns, such as Schaumburg and Naperville, have made concerted efforts to increase their visibility, and they aren't doing this by adding more police officers to their payroll (Villa Park currently has 37 full-time officers on the force.) They are doing this by utilizing their resources in more efficient ways. I think we can do this, too. I?d like to develop a plan that incorporates foot patrols, bike patrols and maybe even Segway patrols (via grant funds if funds can be secured) into our daily patrolling, partnering with our Neighborhood Watch Captains, Police Explorers, CPA CERT Alumni and other local resources. Perhaps we take a closer look at how we are utilizing our part-time police officers -- Villa Park currently has 11 part-timers on our force. Not only will this increase our visibility in town, it will also help foster relationships with our residents and business owners. I'd also like to upgrade the security cameras at the Metra Station (via grant funds) and connect them to every squad laptop so our police can monitor the station at all times. Finally, I would like to add at least one, maybe two, satellite police sub-stations in Villa Park in our greatest area(s) of need (location(s) TBD after additional research is conducted and funding plan established.) There are a number of empty storefronts in town, not to mention Village-owned properties that currently sit vacant awaiting redevelopment. Why not utilize the space we have available now to help our community take a bite out of crime?Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I believe I'm the best candidate for Village President of Villa Park because I not only bring 4 years of experience as an elected official in Villa Park to the table, I can offer consistency and continuity. I've been a resident of Villa Park for 17 years. I understand the issues not only as a Trustee but also as a long-term resident. I'm also a "big picture" thinker, which is what I think is needed in Villa Park if we are to continue on our path towards a better future. Finally, I believe I possess the leadership skills to lead our Village into the future. I pride myself on being an excellent communicator, I'm capable of making tough decisions to benefit the residents and community as a whole, and I take fiscal responsibility -- on the Village level, in my day-to-day business dealings and in my personal life -- very seriously. I believe all of these attributes make for the type of Village President we need in Villa Park.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.Of course, we would always like our taxes to be lower than what they are. That said, when comparing Villa Park sales tax rate with other municipalities, which is currently at 7.75%, it appears our rate is competitive and lands pretty much in the middle of where other municipalities land vis-a-vis sales tax rates. With that, I'd like to see our tax rate remain at 7.75%.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 addition to some crime issues we are addressing as a community around the Metra train station area, the Division Street corridor and areas around the North Avenue Townhomes, all of which will be addressed in greater detail re: my desire to increase police visibility in these areas, we are also facing issues at our train crossings in town. We have five train crossings in Villa Park. Sometimes trains get stuck on the tracks for a variety of reasons, which causes major traffic backups. To address these issues, I'd like to revisit the possibility of building a vehicular or pedestrian underpass in Villa Park. This has been a hot topic in Villa Park for years, yet it's never progressed beyond lip service. Imagine where Villa Park would be had we translated the conversations of the past into an underpass today? Of course we can't do anything about the past, but we sure can pick up where we left off and plan for today and tomorrow. I would like to bring this topic back to the front burner by forming a sub-committee comprised of Village Staff, Board members, representatives from the Village's Traffic Safety Commission, representatives from Union Pacific/other railroad organizations, and the Illinois Commerce Commission, among others, to review the process (ie: feasibility studies, preliminary engineering, grant and other funding opportunities, etc.) and make recommendations to finally get this off the ground.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?During my tenure on the board, we have worked hard to maintain a well-balanced budget. In fact, to date, we have 134 days of surplus revenue in our "rainy day" fund. We have made efforts to replace gas-guzzler vehicles with more fuel efficient models to save on fuel and maintenance costs. We have also replaced light bulbs in every Villa Park municipal building with higher-efficiency light bulbs to save on our electricity bills. That said, I believe there are still some areas of improvement. One key area in our budget that I'd like to see "streamlined" is within our corporate fund. I'd like to work with our Village Manager, Finance Department and Village Board to rework our budget, adding some new account numbers that will help us better track how the corporate funds are being spent. What I mean by this is that I'd like to take a closer look at our corporate fund, divide it up so it's much easier to see where the funds are going and how the funds are allocated throughout the year.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I'd like to capitalize on Villa Park's excellent location and pursue a hotel development project near The Odeum Expo Center. Villa Park is in an incredible location, smack dab between 4 major expressways -- I-88, I-290, I-355 and I-294 --as well as key arterial routes North Avenue, Route 83 and Roosevelt Road. I think it's time we capitalize on our central location in the greater Chicagoland area, using this as leverage to make Villa Park a destination by building a hotel near The Odeum Expo Center. We already have some of the infrastructure in place in regards to the Expo Center, which draws a wide variety of business to Villa Park, from sporting events to craft shows to the annual haunted house. People travel from out of town to Villa Park, yet we aren't capturing their hotel stays (our neighboring communities are) nor the revenue stream, which might be used as a funding source to fix a number of growing needs in town, including our decaying streets, broken sidewalks, crumbling curbs and aging community pools (Lufkin Jefferson Pools.) This is a golden opportunity to pursue a partnership with a developer to bring a new hotel to Villa Park. It will provide jobs, generate revenue and invigorate our local economy. We should seize the moment, and we should do it now.