Marilyn Krafthefer: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Marilyn Krafthefer

City: Oak Brook

Office sought: Oak Brook Village Trustee

Age: 76

Family: Husband Kerry (56 years); children Keri-Lyn, Scott (Kristina), Juli (Craig), Kevin; six grandchildren

Occupation: Community Volunteer/Part-Time Small Business Owner

Education: North Central College

Civic involvement: Vice President Oak Brook Women's Club: Oak Brook Chapter of the Infant Welfare Society; Assistance League of Chicagoland West; Served on the Boards of College of DuPage Cultural Guild, ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists)

Previous elected offices held:

Incumbent? No

Issue questions

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

The first issue is maintaining the ability to provide high quality public services to our residents on less resources due to unfunded mandates and dwindling resources. We must tackle the pension funding with a responsible plan, but we cannot compromise on police, fire and public works services. Oak Brook has always been a premiere community; we need to maintain that reputation while evolving with the times. We can adhere to Paul Butler's vision while still embracing technology, diversity, infrastructure updates. To stay vibrant, we need to consider both the views of our long-term residents and the energy and ideas that will attract newcomers to our Village.

The second issue is that we need to promote civility among the village board members. Our board meetings have, at times, included personal attacks and jabs. That reflects poorly upon Oak Brook. The board members do not have to agree about everything, but there is a way to respectfully communicate differences of opinion and that is not occurring. Oak Brook has a very highly-qualified, professional staff. We need to let Village staff do their job without micromanaging.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I have a broad base of contacts within the community through my community involvement and I can work together with everyone on the Village Board, as well as staff. I am not a lawyer or a career politician, and because I am involved in many community and civic events, I regularly interact with a lot of residents. I am able to listen to people and will be able to convey their ideas to the board. I support thoughtful development that is consistent with the Village's master plan. I will be a strong advocate for law enforcement and our staff. In addition, I am the only female candidate and I think that, just as our board represents the diversity in ethnicities within Oak Brook, we should have both genders represented on our board.

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 any good leader is as good as her team. A trustee does not run the Village; trustees are only one part of Village government's team. Each part must understand its unique role and be respectful of others on the team. I would be one of six trustees, and I would work collaboratively with the others. I do not believe in micromanagement of daily Village management issues, especially since Oak Brook has a strong, qualified, professional staff. Leaders need to understand the issues, understand "all sides" of the issues, weigh the benefits to the community as a whole and, at times, make tough decisions in a manner that is respectful to the "other sides." We need to also work cooperatively with other local governments, such as the park district, county and township. I believe we can accomplish a lot by working together, both on the Village Board and with other governments.

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?

Oak Brook has done a good job at providing a sound budget without imposing a property tax. We need to properly allocate our resources, while balancing issues like the need to fund our pension liability, maintain and update our infrastructure and keeping our police and fire departments strong. We need to continually consider potential revenue sources, particularly those which will not strictly impact our residents or businesses.

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

Develop and promote more Oak Brook Community events. One challenge that Oak Brook has is that we do not have a central "downtown" area where our residents can regularly gather for parades or related events. To counter that, we should develop some additional regular events, like the Taste of Oak Brook, the Fire Department Open Houses and the Polo Ball, where residents can gather with their families and neighbors to socialize and meet others in our Village.

To bring more "unity to our community", we should consider bringing back the Snowflake Ball. For years, the Snowflake Ball provided a wonderful forum that brought the people of Oak Brook together. I would like to re-establish that so residents can have a special event to simply socialize, network, and get to know one another better.