County GOP candidates talk priorities
The three Republican candidates for the Lake County Board's 10th District seat have different priorities if they're elected.
Chuck Bartels, Connie Shanahan and Terri Voss are seeking the GOP nomination. All are from Mundelein.
No Democrat is running in the March 18 primary.
Incumbent Republican Diana O'Kelly isn't seeking re-election in the Mundelein-area district.
The Daily Herald asked the candidates about their political goals and other issues in recent questionnaires. Here are their responses.
Some answers have been edited for clarity, grammar and length.
Q. What's your top priority for the county board or forest preserve board? Please talk about a specific project or piece of legislation - or eliminating or reducing specific areas of spending.
Bartels: Implement policies and support practices that make Lake County a more attractive environment to retain and increase good jobs in the county with an improved focus on economic development.
... That attractive environment also depends upon the following: improving cost and time efficiencies; transparent, effective services; entrepreneurial incentives; countywide collaboration; monitoring county spending to maintain Lake County's unique AAA bond rating (and) to retain/improve bond interest rates and expense for capital projects; holding and improving the cost for the share of property taxes that the county can impact; extending Route 53 (and) Route 120 per plan.
Shanahan: Continue to keep our county financially solvent in the years to come. Consolidate duplicate county offices. Simplify county permit process. Work to reduce county fees and taxes. Evaluate and improve county road system.
Voss: Route 53 will literally cut this district in half. We need to make sure that we are participating in mindful planning so that we can fully capitalize on all new business opportunities (extending) 53 will bring, while conserving the open country feel so valued in this county. Additional planning is also needed to improve capacities on existing roadways.