Timothy M. Burns: 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: Elk Grove VillageWebsite: http://www.timburns4egv.comOffice sought: Elk Grove Village Village boardAge: 33Family: Married to Jennifer (Gugliotta) Burns, father of Meghan and Colin (3.5 year old twins)Occupation: Director of Special Education for a suburban public high school districtEducation: BA-History and Social Science Eastern Illinois University, 1999M.A. Counseling and Human Services, Roosevelt University, 2003M.S. Educational Administration, NIU 2007IN PROGRESS= Ed.D in Educational Leadership, Roosevelt Univerisity, In ProgressCivic involvement: Assisted the Elk Grove Park District and Elk Grove Parks Foundation with the development of the first annual ""Foundation 5"", a 5K run whose aim is to provide revenue for families who can not afford the cost of park district programming.Elected offices held: Trustee for the Elk Grove Village Public Library, since April 2009Have 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 introduce a fresh perspecitive to our Village, and usher in a new era where the residents play a much larger role and have a greater voice in the creation and articulation of public policy within the village. This would best be achieved through a formative approach to government. Many residents have expressed that the current Elk Grove Village Board of Trustees uses what I call a ""summative"" approach , and relies way too heavily on the mere fact that the Trustees were elected or simply that the duty bound elected official will make the decision and if you disagree than you can choose to not re-elect them. This is a summative approach because in this model you can not do anything to change course until the next election, and I stand completely and totally against this because the election occurs once and the citizens should not give up their right to be heard on the myriad of issues that can occur in a four year time period. The idea of a ""duty bound elected official"" approach is a slippery slope because it can give an elected official license to make decisions without going to the public for their input prior to making a decision and this leaves the resident with the impression that they are not being listened too. I have always been an advocate of a ""formative"" approach, or an ongoing assessment of the current perspective of the residents, this is a perspective where as elected officials we should always seek innovative ways to engage the public in discussion regarding the creation and articulation of public policy and ensure that we have a solid understanding of what the residents want and how they feel on a given subject before a decision is made.Key Issue 2 The second issue is to look at our current spending as a village to ensure that every expense is a true manifestation of our values as a community. This is not meant to criticize the current board but to suggest that we should endeavor to be extremely concrete in our justification of what we are spending our revenue on and why we are spending it now as opposed to saving it to offset against future costs. The one area that we need to expand upon on is giving the community a greater explanation as to why something is being purchased, created, renovated or acquired now using village money as opposed to saving the money and ensuring that our reserves are fully ready in case the next few years are more rougher economically than these past two years. We have to examine our current spending to make sure that we can explain to any resident why something is needed.Key Issue 3 My third campaign issue is to work collaboratively with all stake holders to ensure that our industrial park recieves the support needed to remain the economic engine of this area. In order to do this we must utilize a continuous improvement model to ensure that we are anticipating infrastructural enhancement in advance of a concern emerging and that we are staying vigilant to industry changes that could effect a companies desire to operate in Elk Grove Village.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I feel that I have an eclectic and fresh perspective that allows me to explore all dimensions and aspects of an issue or topic before making a decision. I feel that I have had enough leadership experience in my professional and community service to know when it is necessary to have a courageous or crucial conversation that will lead to greater organizational clarity and ensure that we achieve our desired and expressed outcomes. By beind a part of a leadership team I know the necessity of being a team player while still maintaining individual accountability. Though I have only lived in EGV since August 2002, through my wife's experiences as a life long resident and through my own experience as a former resident of Bensenville I feel that I have a solid understanding of where the village has been and what will be needed to ensure that we remain the Camelot Community of the northwest suburbs in the years to come. As a father of 3.5 year old twins I feel that I can offer a unique perspective on issues as I have an enduring investment in the success of our community through my desire to ensure that my children are raised in what has been and continues to be the Exceptional Community.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.I feel that the level of taxation is appropriate, and that we must continually strive to have high expectations for quality service with that same expectation of a very low tax rate. However we have to look at the issue of ""rent"" within the buidings that are being taxed. We have far too many vacant store fronts that if occupied would bring in additional sales revenue and feature additional workers that could choose to spend their money in other retail businesses in town. We have to look at some of our largest retail areas and explore incentives to encourage the owners to consider reducing their rent in properties that have been vacant for considerable periods of time in order to encourage economic growth and development within our retail areas.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.The greatest threat to public saftey comes from any potential reduction to our public saftey budgets. If we reduce the amount of public safety officials deployed on the street than we risk the potential of an increased responce time to an emergency. During times of calm a few extra seconds difference may seem trivial however in times of danger a few seconds may have disastrious results. The Village of Elk Grove Village must ensure that the public saftey budget is never cut and that our emergency responders need to know that if they are willing to go to the line for the community's saftey than I am most willing to go to the microphone for thier saftey and advocate for them, to ensure that they are the best staffed, best equipped and best prepared public safety agencies possible.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?As demonstrated by the recent labor relations complaint filed by the EGV Police Officers Union against the Village of EGV and Mayor Craig Johnson, the executive division of our munincipal administration is very unique. We have several very expensive professional village administrators who perform duties in addition to duties that Mayor Johnson performs for which he recieves compensation for his service. Despite having professionally trained village administrators it was our Mayor whose actions were the predominent focus of the labor relations complaint. It would be my desire to focus on the executive level of munincipal management to determine to if the executive level of our munincipal government can be reduced in scope and size while still maintaining high expectations for quality munincipal services. It would be my desire to explore all current village contracts in terms of outside vendors and internal personnel to ensure that the citizens of Elk Grove Village are deriving the largest benefit from the services and contracts that Village has entered into.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I would like to create a Character Counts 5K road run that would take place on the western half of the community that would include route sponsors. The 5K run would be divided into sub-sections for which each member-organization that compromises our Character Counts Coalition would be in charge of supervising, and providing volunteers to cover. Donations would be accepted from any and all residents, businesses or organizations and the proceeds would go to scholarship opportunities for EGV residents that are current seniors in High School and demonstrate exceptional character. I feel that the location of this race would be very important to showcase the beauty and pride of the neighborhoods on the western half of the community and to ensure that everyone knows that we are one community no matter what side of town you live on.