Durrell Williams: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Durrell E Williams

City: Aurora

Office sought: Alderman at Large, City of Aurora

Age: 48

Family: Married, four children, and six grandchildren

Occupation: Kane County Sheriff

Education: Some College

Civic involvement:

My community involvement includes mentoring, tutoring, providing funding to youth-related projects and back-to-school fairs. As a public servant, I enjoy serving community organizations like; AAMOU, L.I.F.E Support Mentoring, At Risk Mentoring, and volunteering at after-school programming, career fairs, summer STEM and FVCMA camps. I 'm also a principal presenter/coordinator for the Kane County Junior Deputy Program for high school students from East and West Aurora High Schools. I am elected precinct committeeman for the 6th ward, 10th precinct. I am also currently the Executive Vice-chairman for the Fox Valley Credit Union board of directors.

Previous elected offices held:

Elected Precinct Committeemen: 6th ward 10 precinct

Incumbent? Currently no incumbents for this position. (If yes, when were you first elected?

Facebook: DurrellWiliamsforAldermanatLarge

Issue questions

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

Business retention and sustainability, juvenile crime, economic development, taxes and the safety and health of the community. Aurora's taxes are very high, we must do something to reduce the burdens off seniors, along with keeping spending in check and eliminate waste.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I grew up in Aurora, and I remember a once thriving and vibrant community that included work, church, family, and sports. I've lived through the economic ups and downs of our City, and I am ready to work with constituents to come up with a plan to make Aurora great again. I am a good listener, observer, I can handle challenges, and crises. My expertise in working with numerous community and business leaders over the years, makes me the right candidate. I am a property owner, taxpayer, and a board member of a banking community. I have strong leadership skills, I am a collaborator, and know how to work with everyone. I am willing to do what's right for our community even when standing alone, and I promise to serve at the will of the people

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 that of vision and purpose, and I believe in a bottom-up approach that includes all levels of the organization. As an alderman I think you need to be focused, informed, detail-oriented, familiar with budgets, and not afraid of raising questions. I believe in an open and transparent government, along with input from my constituents.

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?

I believe we need a transparent budget that includes an honest assessment of the current pension deficit, personnel and infrastructure spending. Taxes continue to increase, and we need to find ways to reduce spending.

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