Casandra Slade: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Casandra Slade

City: Lindenhurst

Office sought: Trustee

Age: 54

Family: Husband, 2 children

Occupation: Senior Vice President, Wintrust Financial Corporation

Education: Master of Science - Marion College, Bachelor of Arts- Economics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Civic involvement: Board Treasurer, North Chicago Chamber of Commerce; Board Member, Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County

Previous elected offices held: School Board Member, Millburn District 24

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? No, N/A

Website: N/A

Facebook: Casandra McCoy Slade

Twitter: N/A

Issue questions

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

Additional economic development is needed in Lindenhurst. This economic growth would bring new businesses, and build/diversify the tax base in the village.

* What makes you the best candidate for the job?

In working in the field of community development, I have worked with developers who have expressed interest in opportunities in Lindenhurst. This is exciting to know that developers see the vibrancy of our community and a robust future for appropriate development.

* 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.

My leadership style is to prioritize observation and consider the many sides of a topic initially. Then I ask questions and make a decision. As a school board member, I initially served as a school board member and in the last year was selected by my school board peers as school board vice president based on my strong critical thinking skills.

* 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?

Lindenhurst has a very strong budget and was skillfully able to weather the economic downturn of the early 2000s. The most important specific action is to maintain the strong budget, building in future development to help diversify the tax base and make continual strong fiscal decisions on everyday expenditures.

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

There are many good ideas, but the two I will share are:

1. Shop Lindenhurst week - providing shopping focus to highlight the best finds in Lindenhurst and build community.

2. Economic Development tour of Lindenhurst - invite developers to tour available sites in the village.