Carl Sorgatz: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Carl Sorgatz

City: Winfield

Office sought: Trustee, Village of Winfield

Age: 66

Family: Wife and three adult sons

Occupation: Retired Credit Union Executive

Education: Executive Development: The Wharton School: Executive Ed. Program, University of Pennsylvania. The Johnson School of Management: Executive Ed. Program, Cornell University. Darden Graduate School of Business Administration: Executive Ed. Program, University of Virginia.

Civic involvement: Treasurer-Village of Winfield (4.5 Yrs.), Winfield Police Pension Board Trustee, Winfield Plan Commissioner (6 Yrs.), Naperville Sunrise Rotary, Winfield Park District Referendum-Treasurer, Winfield In Action-Coached Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer (10 Yrs.)

Previous elected offices held: Village of Winfield Trustee

Incumbent? Yes

If yes, when were you first elected? 2015

Website: WinfieldWorkingTogether.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/WinfieldWT

Twitter: @WinfieldWorking

Issue questions

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

Having a sustainable revenue base to keep pace with the ever-increasing costs that municipalities face. Examples are the unfunded mandates that Springfield imposes on municipalities, and the rapidly increasing pension and post-retirement health insurance funding requirements. We have been focused on quality development over the past four years and are now starting to see several of those projects come to fruition. That is key to growing our property tax and sales tax base without having to consider an increase to our residents' property tax base. Winfield has one of the lowest property tax rates in DuPage County (3.6% of the overall tax bill) even though we have a limited amount of commercial development. By adding quality commercial and residential development, and growing the sales and property tax base, it is my goal to hold the line on our residents property tax rates. We also need to continue to work towards a mutually beneficial agreement with CDH/Northwestern Hospital on our Town Center development and renew the financial grant agreement which expires in 2021. I will continue to work hard to insure we encourage quality commercial and residential development that brings the amenities that our residents seek and the value that makes economic sense for Winfield.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

The experience and knowledge base that I have assimilated in both my professional life and through my civic involvement make me the best qualified candidate for Trustee. That experience includes four years as Trustee, four plus years as Village Treasurer, six years on the Plan Commission, and also as Trustee on the Winfield Police Pension Board. These positions have given me a unique perspective on key issues and challenges that Municipalities face and the solutions we need to address them. From budget issues, development opportunities, fiscal responsibility, collaboration, and transparency, I bring the traits necessary to achieve results and positive outcomes for Winfield and it's residents. My 37-year background in the financial services industry includes successful strategic direction and executive management including accounting, ALM, business development, compliance, facility management, finance, human resources, investments, lending, marketing, retail delivery, technology, risk management, and security. Winfield, like many Municipalities, faces fiscal challenges both short and long term, but also great opportunities to enhance our residents' lives. I have the ability, professional and civic background needed to help address these challenges and take advantage of those opportunities and do it in a professional, respectful, civil, and collaborative manner.

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 believe that listening first is important to achieving an understanding of what other people's perspectives and concerns are. This is critical in any process towards achieving agreement or consensus on any issue that you are trying to achieve. Being open to differing perspectives and ideas helps to generate a better end result versus being resistant and wanting to retain the status quo. I encourage discussion on topics to generate ideas through an open exchange where everyone is comfortable sharing their thoughts. I also try to lead by example by coming prepared to all meetings, thoroughly reviewing all material, doing research, asking questions, being civil and respectful, and focusing on results. It is also important to value and support our committee volunteers who bring us their expertise and professional backgrounds as a supplement to our staff. They bring added value and perspectives to the process and save time in the board deliberation process.

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?

Having spent the past eight years working on Winfield's budget, I can say we have consistently trimmed areas that do not impact public safety and delivery of essential services. We have an extremely lean staff and are very pro-active in cost control. We have balanced our budget and set aside prudent reserves. That being said, our revenues are not keeping pace with the rising costs of operations, police pensions, capital improvements, state unfunded mandates, and state income tax diversion by the legislature. Through smart/quality, commercial/residential development we can grow our property tax and sales tax base to provide the additional revenue needed to ensure our ability to continue to provide the level of services our residents have come to expect. Our Roosevelt Road corridor development with the new Bucky's gas station and convenience store coming in 2019 is a great start to growing that tax base. Being able to reach an agreement with CDH/Northwestern on the development of Town Center will also grow that base. Additionally, renewal of the CDH/Northwestern grant agreement to compensate for services and infrastructure provided by Winfield is also a needed and important component.

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

Collaborating and coordinating with the various interests affected by major projects whether that is organizations within or outside of Winfield including neighboring communities. This is not something Winfield has historically done very well. As all communities' budgets are stretched, collaborating on projects such as road repairs could produce savings based on economies of scale. Partnering with other governmental units to seek ways to jointly bid contracts and reduce costs. Not letting politics deter reaching out and having those conversations. A good example was an article the Daily Herald ran several months ago about three villages (Mundelein & Libertyville being two of those) working together to do a joint contract for road repairs. It can be done. Lastly working with community groups to obtain feedback on and support for events that can add value and a better sense of community in Winfield.