advertisement

Anita Lewis: Candidate Profile

Kane County board District 3 (Democrat)

Back to Kane County board District 3

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: AuroraWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Kane County board District 3 Age: 59Family: 2 grown daughters, 2 grandchildren and one on the way.Occupation: Materials SupervisorEducation: Bachelor Degree from DePaul University, Certified Life Coach, Certified in Production and Inv. Control.Civic involvement: Grief Share facilitator,certified Chaplain, Board member of 501c3- Chriswalk Against Substance Abuse, former D131 School Board Member, volunteer at Alden Waterford Senior facility, volunteer at Kane County Corrections.Elected offices held: D131 East Aurora School Board Member Board member of Chriswalk Against Substance Abuse Board Member of IYC-St.Charles Kairos TorchQuestions Answers The county commissioned a study to determine which services are mandated and which are not in preparation for a deeper budget cut. Do you believe the county must continue to reduce costs? If so, which non-mandated services would you cut or reduce? Under what circumstances would you support a tax increase?It is the responsibility of our County officials and employees to continually look to spend taxpayer money wisely. This has to be done by constantly evaluating spending and alternatives. As a businessperson, every year I am challenged to produce better results with fewer resources. This has to come from ending waste and eliminating redundancies. I would put this same challenge before the County. I support the current Kane county Property Tax Freeze which means I support departmental budget cuts. Asking the County Departments to reduce 5% in each department is reasonable. Therefore, I do not support a Property Tax increase.The mandated services study said the law will require a reduction in the number of board seats as the county's population grows. Reducing the number of seats might also save money. What is the right number of board seats? How soon should the reduction occur?Comparing Kane to other surrounding counties I believe the number of seats should be reduced to 18. This should still allow for excellent representation but will save the county money.Do you support adding a sunset clause to any toll created to fund the Longmeadow Parkway?Yes, once the bridge is paid for the toll should be eliminated.Was ending the county's GPS and electronic monitoring program the right decision? If not, how would you restore the program?As I stated above I support the 3% to 5% reduction by departments. Chief Judge Boles knows the Judicial Departmental needs better than I do so I trust that she made the correct decision. I personally believe the Electronic Monitoring Program is essential and would have looked for cuts elsewhere or tried to find other ways to fund the Program.Do you support keeping the Aurora Election Commission?No, I agree with the Aurora officials who have recommended eliminating the election commission. This should result in savings of about 250,000 per year by merging the activities of the Aurora Election Commission into the Kane County Clerk's office. Overhead and salary will make up most of the reduction but it will be a seamless transition to the average voter as their normal polling places will not be affected.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Attendance and participation at meetings is important to me. In reviewing the past meeting minutes it is clear that several of the board members, including my opponent, have very poor attendance at both the Committee of the Whole and subcommittee meetings. If they do not attend the meetings they are not doing the work required of the position and they are certainly not representing the County and District taxpayers well. When I was on the D131 School Board my attendance was over 95% at both the Committee of the Whole and my subcommittees. I also feel that collaboration and teamwork among the board members needs to be increased along with increased communications back to the District. I plan on attending the Neighborhood Monthly Group Meetings and will respond to all emails or calls within 24 hours.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.My pastor, Jim Richter. He encourages me to always try and be a better verson of myself everyday.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Growing up in Virgil I learned what it was like to live in a communityIf life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I wouldn't. Both my successes amd failures make me who I am today.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?English. To this day I love to read and writeIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be true to yourself.