Arthur Woods Jr.: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Arthur Woods Jr.

City: Wood Dale

Office sought: Alderman Ward 2

Age: 61

Family:Married with two children

Occupation:General Manager for local home builder

Education: College of DuPage, Real Estate, Management & Brokerage; Northern Illinois University, Center for Governmental Studies; Governance and Economic Development, 2013-2015

Civic involvement: Wood Dale Lions Club, Secretary; Host Student local Government Days for Westview; ONCC Technical Committee member, seven years

Previous elected offices held: Alderman Ward 2

Incumbent: Yes, 2011

Website: www.woodsforwooddale.com

Facebook: ArtWoods@facebook.com

Twitter: artwoods@aldermanwoods

ISSUE QUESTIONS

* What are the most important issues facing your community and how do you intend to address them?

One of the most important issues facing Wood Dale is "Strategic" Economic Development. We intend to address it by leveraging Wood Dale's natural assets, its geographic location, affordable housing stock, work force, educational opportunities, large Industrial Park, Town Center Business District, transportation access, and amenities. We still want to be Wood Dale, but, a better Wood Dale, (Wood Dale 3.0), we need to keep moving forward or we will be passed by.

This growth will fuel our success by increasing multiple revenue streams, allowing the city to continue work on other important projects such as the Flood Relief Projects in ward 2 & 3 that will be phased through 2021 as well as our regular infrastructure projects.

We need to continue capitalizing on the regional infrastructure and economic engines in place such as the I 390 tollway, O'Hare expansion, and Western Access. We also need to focus on city amenities such as the newly formed town center, clock tower and fountains, new intersections, city signage, crosswalks, planted medians, street lighting, joint projects with the park district. These projects have enhanced the city and made it more attractive to new families and development while maintaining Wood Dales charm and small-town feel.

* What makes you the best candidate for the job?

First I moved here over 30 years ago and along with my wife have watched our two children grow and flourish here, our daughter is now in her thirteenth year teaching 4th grade at Westview Elementary in Wood Dale, the same school see attended for 4th grade, my son, his wife along with my grandson just bought a house and moved back to Wood Dale from Elk Grove Village.

Given my 30 plus years of intimate knowledge of the community and its history, along with 40 years in the Building & Development business dealing and interacting with Building Departments, Zoning Boards, Review Boards, Community Development Boards, Businesses, Civic Organizations, Residents, and other stake holders in 45 plus communities across 5 counties and 8 years as Alderman of Ward 2, uniquely qualifies me as the best candidate.

This experience gives me greater insight into what makes a thriving community, what makes them successful, what makes them attractive to new families, and what makes people choose one community over another.

* Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your village board or city council.

I would say I have developed an adaptive leadership style, given the fluidity, complexity and overall number of stakeholders on any one project requires you to be flexible. I tend to use team, transformational, and strategic leadership styles interchangeably, this allows me to work on many levels with different groups, from small simple projects to very large complex projects. It is that very flexibility that has helped me over the past 40 years in the Building business and 8 years as Alderman, and I anticipate will continue to help me over the next four years.

* 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 people want?

Wood Dale has had a balanced budget over my eight years as Alderman of Ward 2, while growing revenue, increasing services and maintaining a healthy reserve that's 3 times the state requirement.

When elected in 2011, I quickly found out the poor state of our infrastructure. This presented the newly elected officials with many hard decisions to make.

We started with the cities first strategic planning session, we called in staff and the city engineers and went to work quantifying the city's infrastructure (pipes, lights, streets, sidewalks, buildings, water towers, lift stations etc.) and assets. We determined the age, then their usefully life, and then cost to replace, this I can say was a very eye-opening exercise that has served us well over the past eight years

We then went to work, putting a five-year strategic plan together, prioritizing the projects. First, was the largest and most complex project the city has undertaken, the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Next, was Irving/Wood Dale Rd Intersection Safety improvements, I-390, train quiet zone, street replacements, water mains, sidewalks, lift stations, flooding projects, flood buyouts, rain gardens, land purchases, and other development that had never been done before.

* What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

With the assistance of our economic development staff and input from stakeholders, we should be constantly identifying factors within and outside of our local control, that impact and shape our local economy. Identifying strengths and opportunities is crucial, but we should also pay attention to weaknesses.

One opportunity or weakness, depending on your view point, is the lack of a last mile transpiration plan. Given our strategic location, demand and explosive growth in both our industrial park and Town Center Business District indicates to me it's time to implement a local last mile transportation plan to add value to the city and leverage our train station.

We need to partner with Pace, Local business owners, DuPage and other stakeholders to establish a bus route along Irving Pk. Rd., Wood Dale Rd, Addison Rd., and Central Ave, also reaching out to Itasca, Elk Grove, Bensenville and Addison to develop the routes. This is a much-needed missing piece of our overall development. This will be of great benefit to residents, and businesses alike.