Michael Clements: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Michael Clements

City: Geneva

Office sought: Alderman, Ward 2

Age: 41

Family: Married to Elizabeth, with whom I have one son, Mikey. We also have two hound dogs, Thelma and Louise.

Occupation: Quantitative Finance

Education: BS and MS in physics from Brown University

Civic involvement: CASA/Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children

Previous elected offices held: Ward 2 Alderman

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? Appointed in June 2018

Website: www.clementsforcouncil.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clementsforcouncil

Issue questions

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

Every community has a set of core themes that are important and require the attention of the municipality's governing body: providing essential services, keeping taxes in check and public safety. One also must look at what makes the community distinct. In Geneva, one of those qualities is a strong sense of identity. With this identity, however, comes the challenge of adapting to the dynamic needs of the community. Complex issues surrounding growth and development while preserving character and maintaining historic appeal will be front and center over the ensuing years. Tackling these issues will require high levels of engagement with members of the community. There are also more pragmatic issues such as impending retirements of multiple high-level city officials. We will need to ensure we retain the institutional knowledge that is critical to the high quality services residents expect. Perhaps not discussed often enough are concerns regarding cybersecurity. Like most organizations, the city continues to use more technology to run efficiently. Along with the benefits brought by new technology come risks. I would recommend developing a cybersecurity policy, as well as assess what potential vulnerabilities may exist in our electric, water, finance and emergency response systems and networks.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

To a large degree, being an alderman is what you make of it. One can attend the Monday night council meeting, vote and call it a week. Studying agenda packets and attending council meetings is a crucial part of the job. However, since taking office, I have learned there are many aspects to being an alderman that extend beyond policy discussions at City Hall if you want to make the most of it for the community. Attending ribbon cuttings, fundraisers, cultural and community events, volunteering, and one on one meetings with constituents are all important parts of the job that require time and dedication. I have demonstrated through example my commitment and dedication to these aspects of the job. Furthermore, I am willing to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty when necessary. Last fall, a constituent contacted me regarding a median at the entrance of a neighborhood which was completely overgrown and full of garbage. Upon determining no city resources were available to deal with the problem, I, along with several other dedicated members of the City Council, got to work and took care of it. When spring arrives, there are more medians to clean!

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.

Engaged, accessible, responsive and civil. I approach people and discussions with an open mind and try to sincerely understand the many facets of a given issue. I strongly believe in the value of building relationships to establish trust, mutual understanding and a common respect. Establishing such relationships can be nothing but beneficial to the community I serve and is an essential component of good governance.

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?

Generally speaking, Geneva is a very well managed municipality, which includes the budget. In 2015 the property tax levy imposed by the city stood at about 0.748 percent of EAV. Subsequently, the levy has come down every year to the current proposed rate of 0.562 percent. This represents a tax reduction of approximately 24.9 percent over three years. Overall, the city portion of the total property tax bill has come down to roughly $6.5 out of every $100 taxed, the rest going to other taxing bodies. In order to maintain this favorable downward tax levy trend, a healthy diversification among industrial, residential and commercial bases is essential, as is a robust sales tax environment. Actions I would take in order to achieve this include the further advancement of the Southeast Area Master Plan through the assessment of possible private partnerships and the completion of property annexation. Given changing trends in retail, I would work with the city to develop policies to modernize and re-purpose certain properties located in commercial corridors. Lastly, I would advocate for more mixed-use development, evaluate city code to accommodate the possibility of residential use above existing commercial structures and discuss the prospect of a new downtown parking structure.

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

Working to relieve the tax burden on residents while growing revenues is a challenging but crucial task. As Geneva establishes a new industrial park on the southeast side, we should ask what would be a good fit for our needs. Geneva is unique because we manage our own electrical utility. As renewables like solar become more economically and aesthetically attractive options for consumers, the savings incurred would be passed to traditional users to maintain the infrastructure. This scenario is similar to what occurred when society shifted from landline phones to mobile. Therefore, a strong candidate for the new industrial park should be a significant power consumer, such as a large-scale data center. These centers would be tremendous contributors to our electric and water enterprise funds, while having relatively minimal impact on infrastructure, such as roads. Our industrial park would be a good fit given the importance of having a reliable power source and being able to work directly with the municipality to assure such reliability. Geneva's proximity to great universities, federal research labs and Chicago would be strong selling points to attract talent to fill the high-paying jobs with the strong technical expertise the center would require.