TERRY GAVIN: Candidate Profile

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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: ELGINWebsite: noneTwitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Terry Gavin Elgin City Councilman a personal page.Office sought: Elgin City Council Age: 62Family: My wife is the only surviving family I have. My mother immigrated from Europe in 1946 the rest of her family stayed in Poland. Did not know my father. Foster parents deceased as well as 2 step-fathers.Occupation: Independent Insurance brokerEducation: Honor Roll graduate from Grant Community High School, Fox Lake, IL. also hold Fellow Designation from the Life Underwriters Training Council. Have taken multiple certification course with the Medicare program, private classes on finance for continuing education requirements for licensing. Industry courses with testing for additional skills in my profession.Civic involvement: I have run for Elgin City Council 1st in 1993 lost. Ran again in 1995 won a 4 year term. Lost reelection in 1999. Came back in 2013 to win another 4 year term. During my adult life I have served on several boards for Homeowners Assoc., committees including Hanover Township Mental Health Board. Chaired sat on different Task Forces including on Education State St. Elgin, co chaired Elgin Gang Drug Task Force a YMCA Task force. Have been a member of several civic organizations including Kiwanis, Eagles Masonic Lodge.Elected offices held: Elgin City CouncilQuestions Answers The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin is funded by a $135,000 yearly contract with the city, and future funding will be discussed by the city council. The DNA could continue to be funded by the city, or by a new special tax imposed on downtown property owners, or by a special sales tax increase for downtown only. Or by a combination of all three. How do you believe the DNA should be funded? Please explain.The DNA has been a good partner in advertising Elgin's downtown and promoting the many events that are held there every year. As for the organization's funding, I am open to a variety of possibilities, but only if reassured that they can absorb the loss of another executive director, Deirdre Higgins White, who resigned recently and has yet to be replaced. Currently, the DNA's funding comes from TIF money, an arrangement that has been fairly workable. The Special Services Area (SSA) concept was introduced by former Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall. It has supporters as well as opponents. Results of a recent survey conducted of downtown property owners will be crucial in determining whether or not we should shift funding to that type of source. It's fairly complicated, and has been since it was introduced a couple of years ago. I'm convinced that the DNA, or some other private/public partnership, is a much more cost effective approach than bringing their responsibilities in-house. Other ideas discussed include bringing the DNA operation under the aegis of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce, similar to the relationship it has with the Elgin Development Group. I'm open to that discussion, but haven't heard enough about the potential details to have formed a professional opinion. All that said, in my view, the recent resignation of their executive director is very impactful on whatever direction they proceed, or try to proceed, going forward.Elgin straddles Cook and Kane counties. Cook County approved increasing the hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $10 effective July 1. Elgin, as a home rule community, can opt out. Do you support opting out or allowing the $10 minimum wage to take effect? Why?I live in the Cook County portion of Elgin, but my ties and commitment are to the entire city. I have heard from business owners with interests in both counties, most of whom are opposed to the minimum wage increase. My stance is to opt out, simply as a function of trying to maintain a level playing field. The city of Elgin is 75% Kane County, and uniformity is important, similar to the change we made to our ordinance on possession of small amounts of marijuana. In my opinion, consistency is a vital message that we send to our residents. I don't want the city trying to enforce an ordinance established from a built-in double standard. I have also read reports stating that raising the minimum wage leads to a higher level of unemployment, affecting young people looking for entry level jobs, like most of us when we were starting out. The unemployment rate for young adults is too high already, and small businesses cannot afford to have to pay more than a job is worth in the open market. Government should allow the market to work with a minimum simply as a base.A task force told the city council in summer 2015 that the Hemmens Cultural Center should be expanded with a new performance space for up to 450 patrons, new restrooms, dressing rooms, a box office and more. The cost hasnÃcirc;shy;t been estimated but it would be in the millions. Do you believe an expansion is necessary? Please explain.The task force report referred to in this question was very thorough and comprehensive, but it had different levels of recommendations. We are undertaking the first two stages of modernizing the cultural center, making it more attractive for use as a venue. I fully support the capital investments we've made on lighting, sound equipment and other critical hardware, thus allowing our staff to bring the Hemmens up to currently acceptable use standards. I also support replacing the plaza between city hall and the Hemmens. As for expansion, while I believe that the idea may have some merit and could possibly pay for itself, especially if the facility has the appropriate number of seasonal and annual bookings, any projected cost remains a problem. Without the necessary funding to spend on the Hemmens, we'd have to issue General Obligation Bonds, backed by a property tax levy increase to pay for it. That's not something I could support at this time. While the state of Illinois struggles to find direction in trying to move forward with its own budget, I believe it unwise to commit to a major expansion of the Hemmens.The city council set a policy of gradually spending down the cityÃcirc;shy;s reserves to 30 percent of operational expenses. By the end of 2017, the general fund will have $37.9 million in reserves, or about 32 percent, as per this yearÃcirc;shy;s budget. Do you agree with the policy? Or do you believe the city should be more prudent with reserves? Or should it spend down reserves even more? Why?I support the city council policy of keeping our cash reserves at 30% of our annual general fund. This is an imperative issue for several reasons. To begin with, doing so helps Elgin maintain its AAA bond rating. Secondly, it protects us against a catastrophe, whether natural or otherwise, especially if Federal assistance is slow in coming. A solid cash reserve also gives us some degree of flexibility in handling larger increases in employee costs and/or emergency infrastructure repairs than those we might have otherwise expected. I've been involved in multiple discussions with both our former and current city manager, as well as other council members, regarding this policy. We seem to all agree that this is the most responsible course of action going forward. I agree with and support our current policy, but, as always, am always willing to listen to other people's ideas.The city is working on a creating a Ãcirc;not;code compliance academyÃcirc;® for residents who want to find out more about property-related regulations, and help keep an eye on problems. Do you think this is a sound approach? If not, what is your alternative?I was the council member who made the motion during a work session that created the Citizen Code Academy, which passed 9-0. But I didn't come up with the idea by myself. It was a combination of input from Elgin citizens and our community development director, who's in charge of code compliance. Several meetings with the public showed strong support within the community for the idea. My nearly eight years as a councilman has shown me that the most problematic area for us is getting code compliance from those citizens who do not seem to understand the importance of or can't maintain their properties. This is not about the increase of fines. This is not about generating revenue for the city. It's really about educating the public as to what is and what is not compliant in making our neighborhoods better, safer and stronger, thus protecting everyone's property value. While that's the goal, we're also looking to protect public wellbeing with regard to occupancy limits, without which may engender severe overcrowding, thus endangering life and limb. I am very focused on trying to reduce the many complaints we receive from our citizens. The only other solution is to go out and hire more than the four code inspectors we currently employ, but this takes more money, which means more taxes and/or revenues to pay for them. It may very well come down to having to hire more trained inspectors, but I would rather try our new code academy first.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?There are always other issues in a city as large as ours. For instance, even though violent/gang crime is at a 40-year low, it's always out there. If we lose our collective focus, it could conceivably increase again. When I served my first term on the city council in 1995-1999, I focused on reducing gang crime and drug dealers. I served on the Elgin Drug and Gang Task Force, eventually becoming co-chairman. This current term, my focus, has been on economic development, by bringing more quality jobs to Elgin. I also helped guide the first-ever American Civil War reenactment event to final approval on the city council. This is not just an entertaining, educational event. I view it as another opportunity to bring more people to our city, creating economic activity and enhancing our image regionally. I hope to follow through and ensure that this event becomes an annual two-day program, bringing thousands of visitors here. The event itself also ties in with what we can do with a property deeded to us by the state of Illinois"â#128;ťthe Elgin Mental Health Center, where the reenactment is being held. Proper development of the land for recreation/ sports will make Elgin a destination for different sports tournaments and more economic activity. Another piece of property that is an issue for us is the old Fox River Country Day School, at I-90 Route 25. Some interested parties have contacted us, wanting to restart it as either a private school a charter school.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.No one at the moment inspires me with he possible exception of Cubs manager Joe Maddon.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?To listen to my elders be polite when working with people. Hard work pays off. Honesty is the best policy.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I have no idea have never thought about it.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?History was clearly my favorite yes I think it did help me in life. Often things that have happened in the past happen again.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?We have no children but if we did it would be "honesty is the best policy".