Jesse Ortega: 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: MundeleinWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Mundelein Park Board (6-year Terms)Age: 70Family: Married,4 children, 4 grandchildrenOccupation: RetiredEducation: Bachelor of Science in chemistry, St. Mary's University, San Antonio,Tx 1966Civic involvement: American Legion Post 867, Knights of Columbus at Santa Maria del PopoloElected offices held: School board at district 120Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continue to provide the taxpayers within the district as well as customers outside the district, the finest service without increasing the taxes/cost of programs and when possible reduce the tax rate. The present administration recently received an award on its financial management.Key Issue 2 Continue to provide excellent service and make present and future programs attractive to more individuals at reasonable cost to all customers.Key Issue 3 Continue to be a trailblazer in exploring opportunities to expand programs offered.Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?The park district has and should continue to be insightful on what the needs are and plan budgets to include future recreational needs without having budget shortfalls.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.There may be opportunities to expand the programs offered by the park district that may need additional open space, such as Lacrosse facilities. There is a growing interest in this sport similar to that of Soccer 30 years ago.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?As the interest of the park district taxpayers change, the administration will continue to be knowledgeable of these new interest and adopt according with planned expansions within the budget.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?I am under the impression that this activity is presently within the scope of the present administration and is being addressed as opportunities arise. Since I am not on the board at this point, particulars I am not able to address.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.I want to contribute to an already winning organization. Each individual brings his or hers set of skills to an organization and I believe that my set of skill set in management and on the District 120 school board will be a plus to the park district.