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Zach Steffens: Candidate Profile

Volo Village President

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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:BioQA Bio City: VoloWebsite: https://steffens4volo.weebly.comOffice sought: Volo Village President Age: 38Family: Mike Steffens- Father Vicki Rathunde- Mother Jill Steffens-Wife Alex(15)Kendall(7)Annabel(1)-DaughtersOccupation: Culver's of Palatine-Owner/OperatorEducation: Associates Degree in Electrical EngineeringCivic involvement: registered voterElected offices held: N/AQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I believe that the demographic of Volo is young families such as mine. I am a business owner who knows how to connect with families and work together with people to grow and strengthen the community while keeping this family based feel. I have lead groups of people towards a common goal while in the military, both overseas and here at home. This will help to lead the board of Trustees and people of Volo toward goals best suited for our community.How would you describe the condition of your community's budget, and what are the most important specific actions the town should take to assure providing the level of services that people want?Our budget is very tight due to the fact that we are a small town and have very little commercial income.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?The Volo budget is based on a very small percentage of the total taxes collected from every home, along with the business taxes from the commercial sales in Volo. I do not want to increase any taxes taken from residents to grow the budget. I would work diligently to bring in more commercial businesses.Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions with your village board or city council.I have a visionary style of leadership. In the military, I trained and lead very different personalities with diverse backgrounds towards one common goal. I continue doing this while working with my team in my restaurant daily. My leadership style helps me facilitate focusing different individuals on one common vision.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?With all of the young families and children in the community, I feel we need some sort of Park District. I do not believe that we can do this on our own, but I would pursue combining with our neighbors in Wauconda to become part of their Park District. They are looking to expand, and a lot of families from Volo go to them for services at non-resident rates. If we could find a way to combine this could benefit both communities. I would also like to look into bringing a large indoor sports air dome to this area. It would be an opportunity to create jobs, and it would bring in revenue year round.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Strengthening communication between the Village and it's community, maintaining a family-oriented atmosphere, and growing businesses to give our members the opportunity to support their town of Volo.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Hillary Clinton has handled polotics in many facets with grace an integrity.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Respect for others and discipline.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I graduated high school at 17. I would have opted to graduate 1 year later.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math. It helped me as an Aviation Electronics Technician working on F-14s in the Navy and with my accounting today.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be an honest and moral person in everything that you do in life.