Fox Lake mayor sees building local economy as priority
Ed Bender is a familiar face on the village board, but not in the hot seat.
For the previous eight years, Bender served as a Fox Lake trustee before overwhelmingly winning election as Fox Lake mayor in April.
He said bringing back businesses to Fox Lake and emphasizing better communication are his main goals for trying to make Fox Lake a better place to live.
Q: What did you learn from the campaign that you hope to put into action as mayor?
A: Develop a good plan, surround yourself with the right people and then execute the plan. Right now, I'm not only organizing the plan we created during the election, but also starting to implement it.
Q: What is your vision for Fox Lake?
A: My simple vision is I want to make Fox Lake a great place to live. If people say that, I'll be happy.
Q. What will be your overall priority as mayor?
A: Like many other towns, the priority is to establish an overall economic development plan and build up our economic base. In recent months, the loss of sales tax has depleted our economic base and sales tax is down a little over 10 percent from where it was. We are working immediately to turn that around and start attracting business.
Q: What will be your first initiative now that you have been sworn in?
A: Aside from developing a better economic base, we will work immediately to open the lines of communication, not only in village hall but from the village to residents. We are working on generating a more easy to use and informational Web site that will include important information for residents and village employees alike. We are also looking at ways to change the way business is done and transacted in the village, both at the board level as well as with residents.
Q: You have been pushing the need to attract and retain business in Fox Lake. What do you intend to do to make that happen?
A: What I have been doing for the last four or five years. I will continue to work with village staff and developers to come to town by demonstrating to them how great Fox Lake is for business. We will also work with developers on the hotel, work with officials at Thelen Sand and Gravel to develop the corner of Route 173 and Wilmot Road and work with people to attract additional businesses. We are also developing new brochures and marketing materials to attract business into the village.
Q: What is one thing you would like to accomplish that you feel prior administrations did not accomplish?
A: I think we need to reach out to other municipalities, county, state and federal government more than we have in the past. Intergovernmental partnerships and agreements are important on all levels to help achieve your goals. By reaching out to other towns, the county and the state of Illinois, it opens the door for more communication and partnerships on all fronts and enables both sides to swap ideas and create more open partnerships.
Q: How will you put your mark on this office?
A: In four years, I want people to say he lived up to his initial vision statement which is to make Fox Lake a better place to live and do business. If I can live up to that, I will be extremely happy. It's an ambitious goal, but I also think it's attainable. And, it would please me to no end.