Dawn Czarny: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Dawn Czarny

City: Lindenhurst

Office sought: Trustee

Age: not available

Family: not available

Occupation: Finance Manager, CPA

Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University and Master of Accountancy from the University of West Florida. Earned Illinois CPA license in 2014.

Civic involvement: I serve as a member of the Finance Committee, as a Director for the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County and a Trustee Liaison for the Environmental Commission. I have also sought to give back through volunteering so that all Lindenhurst families can continue to enjoy the benefits of living in our community. I have been an active volunteer for Earth Day, Plant Exchange, Lindenfest, Country Place Homeowners Association, and local youth sports.

Previous elected offices held:

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? Yes, April 2015

Website: lindenhurstbestchoice.net

Facebook: Dawn Czarny - Lindenhurst Trustee

Twitter:

Issue questions

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

Healthy Business Environment - We need to continue defining, demonstrating and communicating how Lindenhurst offers a unique opportunity for business and how we are committed to help businesses grow in our village. Partnership with Village Administration, Board Members, Chamber of Commerce, and most important, business and residential community members will shape a message that focuses on our demographic attributes. We as a community, need to present a concise message on why Lindenhurst, with its concentrated market, is the ideal location for business! My goal is to provide a forum to unleash the true potential for Lindenhurst. Community Connectivity - While there are many beneficial road construction projects that have just completed or are still in process, we need to continue to enhance our approach to road repair and plan for community connectivity. We started by using a pavement management system to provide an evidence-based approach in prioritizing road repairs and improvements. Next, we can enhance the walking / biking path on Sand Lake Road from Route 45 to Grand Avenue. This will serve to further connect the businesses and residents on our eastern corridor with Village Hall, local lakes and forest preserves and our business district along Grand Avenue.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I have over 15 years of experience helping business leaders make decisions based on facts. As a trustee for the Village of Lindenhurst, I will continue to employ this fact-based decision-making process while considering the impact to residents. I know that as Trustee, I serve the people of Lindenhurst and will always do the right thing for the residents and our village. I always appreciate feedback from the community and welcome opportunities to provide clarification. I look forward to staying connected with you and appreciate your interest and involvement - that's how we grow stronger together!

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.

As a curious and analytical person, I prefer to understand all key aspects in a decision process - so I ask a lot of questions! As a trustee, I have experienced very open and independent minded exchanges and appreciate all points of view. That's how we make the best decisions!

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 been recognized as innovative, fiscally-responsible community that spends the public's tax dollars prudently. As a result, Lindenhurst has the 2nd lowest property tax rate of all surrounding municipalities. We need to continue to create efficiencies and reduce expenses while taking measures to maintain or improve services. Going forward, our recently introduced community survey will provide objective feedback on quality of service. And I will continue to garner resident feedback as well.

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

While economic development continues to be job #1, we need to consider alternatives to bringing business to the community to help reduce the overall cost of living. To that end, I would like to explore the opportunity to be an energy self-sufficient village using wind turbines and other emerging technologies.