Michael Clements: Candidate Profile

Back to Geneva City Council Ward 2

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: GenevaWebsite: www.clementsforgeneva.comTwitter: Clements4GenevaFacebook: Clements For GenevaOffice sought: Geneva City Council Ward 2 Age: 39Family: Wife, Elizabeth ClementsSon, Michael ClementsTwo hounds, Thelma and LouiseOccupation: Quantitative Finance - Vice President Research DevelopmentEducation: B.S., Physics, Brown University 1999M.S., Physics, Brown University 2002Civic involvement: CASA/Guardian Ad Litem, CASA Kane CountyChairman's Advisory Panel, CASA Kane CountyElected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers Do you support what the Downtown/Station Area Master Plan's suggests for redevelopment of several opportunity sites, including the Cetron factory site and the Mill Race Inn site, including calls for higher-density housing than currently allowed? Discuss in light of recent decisions against an apartment building at the Cetron site and townhouses/duplexes at the former Geneva Greenhouse site.Any new project proposed to the community should be weighed on its own merits. Residents in the surrounding neighborhoods also should have considerable input in the final approval of any project or associated zoning changes. Within these guidelines, I support the placement of more high-density housing within the downtown, especially in a mixed-use format so that locations on the river, such as Mill Race Inn, would retain public access and have the potential to generate sales tax from an attached retail area or restaurant. Regarding the recent Geneva Meadows proposal for the old greenhouse property on Western Avenue, an area not within the downtown master plan, I agree with the current R1 zoning. Given that location's extremely close proximity to so many family amenities such as a park, Sunset Pool, tennis courts, baseball fields, and perhaps most importantly Western Avenue Elementary, it seems to be an ideal location for young families and traditional single-family, detached housing.Should a city employee (the administrator or her designee) negotiate city union contracts, given that they, like other employees, will receive the same benefits as union members?There are several things that are important to understand when addressing this question to provide context. First, the city employee who has negotiated union contracts is a non-union employee and is in no way a direct beneficiary of those contracts. Second, this process of negotiation is not an atypical practice. Dozens of Illinois communities similar to Geneva utilize in-house staff to negotiate contracts, as it is less costly to do so than hire an outside third party. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the city employee has acted only as the negotiator. Approval and final review of union contracts, and any employee benefits for that matter, are the responsibilities of the City Council, not the negotiator. Given that there is no statutory conflict of interest, I do not believe it is worth additional costs to the city to address what is only a perceived conflict.Mayoral candidate Tom Simonian has said he won't take the salary of mayor/liquor commissioner, or would donate it to charity. Is that a good idea? Why or why not?What any individual chooses to do with his or her money is a personal decision. If he should win, it is Mr. Simonian's decision to donate the annual $22,000 mayoral salary to charity. Publicly disclosing such a decision in campaign literature is where, I believe, problems may arise. Doing so, whether intentional or not, makes it a tool one uses to run for office. Donating the mayoral salary will put pressure on those who wish to run in the future to follow in kind. Not everyone who wishes to serve the greater good can afford to make such financial contributions. Thus, although I applaud the desire to give back to our community, I worry there is a net negative impact on the democratic process.Should the city do something to increase the amount of affordable housing in Geneva, as the Chicago Metropolitan Agency on Planning study calls for? If so, what?In theory the community embraces the idea of affordable housing, and for good reason. It would provide more options to those members of our community who have spent their lives in Geneva and would like to stay here, in their home town, when they retire or choose to downsize. Affordable housing has the potential to draw young professionals into Geneva who might someday start families and upsize into our larger inventory of single-family, detached homes. However, the issue is complex and personal with what may be seen as the competing objectives of economic and social diversification versus neighborhood concerns over the possible effects on long term property values. In 2015 the city council designated multiple locations throughout Geneva as potential locations for affordable housing. Given the concerns residents in those locations would have should a proposal for development present itself, I would recommend that a task force, comprised of residents neighboring the selected sites, be created. Such a task force could play a pivotal role in providing guidance to the city council on such a challenging topic. If elected alderman I would readily volunteer to act as a liaison.What is one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I propose the city conduct a study, or perhaps develop a master plan, for the Randall Road corridor that would address ongoing tectonic shifts in retail. Geneva generates more revenue through sales tax than any other tax. The bulk of that tax is generated in the Randall Road corridor. Digging deeper, one would find that several large footprint retailers constitute an outsized portion of the generated sales tax. Understandably there is concern about the possible loss of revenue from Springfield, however, we are ignoring a potential revenue issue that could be considerably more serious "â#128;œ a long-term, steady reduction in sales tax generated in the corridor. In 2003, Geneva published a comprehensive plan focused on three areas, one being the corridor. At that time, online retail sales only accounted for approximately 1.5% of all retail sales, barely a factor for consideration. By the third quarter of 2016, that number had climbed to 8.4%. Similarly, big box and department stores have seen revenues decline by roughly 35% from 2006 to 2015, with an additional drop of 12% projected by 2020. Even online grocery shopping is expected to account for 20% of all grocery shopping by 2025. These trends will likely continue as online retail embraces mobile shopping and works to provide free, rapid delivery of goods. Will these trends adversely affect sales tax revenues and our ability to provide services? With foresight, planning and hard work, Geneva can get ahead of this dangerous curve.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?One issue that I feel strongly about, although not unique to our community, is the direction political discourse has taken in our society in recent years. Regardless of where you stand in the political arena, we have seen friends and family become antagonists. The ability to compromise, once viewed as a valuable asset as an end to achieve objectives for the greater good, has become a liability viewed as a weakness. We have allowed differences of opinion and viewpoints to escalate into what is at best mistrust and at worst hatred. My sincere hope is here in Geneva, and other municipalities throughout the country, we are able to set an example of what is possible. We can have disagreements while still having healthy discussions on topics relevant to our community such as high density housing, rising expenses, taxes, declining employee morale, service consolidation, and many others without disdain for one another. Geneva is a strong, vibrant community with an engaged citizenry, as has been demonstrated by the many voices that come out when anything viewed as detrimental to our character is proposed. Let's keep that strength channeled on working together to find solutions that address our problems without rupturing our community. Here, at the local level, let's begin to rebuild trust and act with magnanimity even when we disagree. Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once stated, "all politics is local." He's right. Let's show Washington and Springfield how government can work when people work together.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.NVidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. His business acumen, intelligence, and vision has led to the creation of a company that is changing the world.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?The importance and value of learning from failure. Our failures can provide us with the insight we need to unlock and achieve our great successes.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I'd put it in the bank. I wouldn't want to risk putting my life on a different path than the one it is on now.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Physics. Delving into modern physics requires mathematics, computer science, even philosophy and history. Put together these tools enable one to understand and tackle complex problems.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Don't ever let fear drive your decision making.