John O'Brien: 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: Oak BrookWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Oak Brook parksAge: Candidate did not respond.Family: Married to Vicki O'Brien for 33 years. Two daughters and a son. Eight Grand children.Occupation: Consultant E-Energy Green Field.Education: MBA, Keller Graduate School of Business; Bachelor of Science degree in Business, Northern Illinois UniversityCivic involvement: Oak Brook Park District since 1993 to presentSaddlebrook homeowners' association 1985 to 1993Gingerbrook Homeowners' association 1979 to 1982Elected offices held: President of the Oak Brook Board of Commissioners; Oak Brook Park District.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NOCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To continue working to provide the best in parks, recreational opportunities, facilities and open land for our community by working with a balanced budget.Key Issue 2 Improving programs for the senior population along with working with the village in a cooperating way to share resource and knowledge gaining insight to make Oak Brook a better place to live and enjoy the parks and programsKey Issue 3 Working with the Oak Brook Business community to offer and enlisted their support for the health of their employees in using the Oak Brook Park district facilities to improve their aspect of a balance work life, health enviroment and family fun experience.Questions Answers What programs aren#146;t paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?At the Oak Brook Park District we review all programs on a six month bases to understand if the programs being offer are meeting there target marketing base. If not we either improve the programs from listening to the needs of our partrons or cancell the programs and introduce new ones.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.NO. Oak Brook Park District is very lucky to have outstanding open spaces within the village boundaries with the Dorothy Dean Nature Center. Along with the Du Page County Forest preserves that includes Mays Lake we are very fortunate to have these open spaces to enjoy in this area.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 are always listening to the patrons to improve the programs and offerings at the district. Christmas Lunch with Santa, The Halloween Haunted Trail rides along with the Easter Egg hunts are some the of the signature events that we offer. The improvement of the Pioneers programs by offering different venues and special trips are a model to be followed.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?Yes we are working in cooperation with the Butler School in a cooperative way to expand the pre-school activates option to all resident in the village. Our working with the village to share resources in offering to work with the police department in holding pre training screening for all future officers, working with the fire department in offering the use of all park facilities for training including the use of the swim facilities if necessary for trainingIf 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.The family recreation center was built without the use of tax dollars. The Center was voted the best in the Western Suburbs. Acquiring the forty acres of the Dorothy Dean nature preserve and turning the area into the nature preserve for the enjoyment for generations to come without the use of tax dollars. Balance Budgets and gaining the GAOC award for the last sixteen years.