DuPage board candidates tackle budget, social issues

DuPage County Board member John Curran says he will continue to pursue ways to deliver county services more efficiently if he's elected to another term on the board.

Meanwhile, his opponent in the Nov. 4 election - Pamela Miles - is promising to promote community involvement by being a visible presence in the district she hopes to represent.

Republican Curran and Democrat Miles will square off next month in a race to decide who gets one of the three seats representing county board District 3, which includes all or parts of Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Lemont, Naperville, Westmont, Willowbrook and Woodridge.

During a recent endorsement interview with the Daily Herald, Miles outlined her plan to be more accessible.

"The people need a voice," said Miles, a 66-year-old retired broadcast journalist who lives in Downers Grove. "I would be more involved. I would get out into the public."

Curran, who has served on the board since 2008, said he's been helping homeowners by working to keep the county's property tax levy flat. The levy amount has remained unchanged for years.

"One thing residents are very clear on is they aren't looking to shoulder more of the burden with regard to taxes," the 41-year-old Woodridge resident said. "We have to continue to find better ways to provide governmental services."

Curran, who works as an assistant state's attorney, championed a 2011 plan that prevents future employees from receiving large cash payouts for unused sick days they stockpile through the years. It also reduced the number of sick and vacation days county employees can accrue.

"The reforms that I enacted are going to save DuPage County taxpayers more than $20 million over the next 20 years," Curran said.

Going forward, he says the board should pursue consolidation and shared services to control costs.

"We look at it as how can we do things more efficiently and deliver the same level of service," Curran said. "Budgets are tight, and they're only getting tighter."

If elected, Miles says she would draft a plan to identify and address what she's calling the "silent pain" in DuPage.

"Utilizing my education, training and experience, I would work with existing programs and assist in coordinating and developing others to deal with drugs and crime, domestic abuse, senior issues, affordable housing and poverty," Miles wrote in a Daily Herald candidate questionnaire.

Miles said she would be an empathetic voice on the 18-member county board.

"When you look at the board and the people that are on the board," she said, "how many of them worry about busing? How many of them worry about scheduling? You have to know your people. You have to relate to your people."