Scott Kunze: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Scott Kunze

City: East Dundee

Office sought: Village trustee

Age: 40

Family: Married with a blended family of 5 kids.

Occupation: I'm in architectural millwork manufacturing

Previous elected offices held: None

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Scott-Kunze-for-East-Dundee-Trustee-2265420500137180/

Issue questions

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

East Dundee is on a good path. We've seen our downtown area transformed in the past 10 years. We've seen some new residential developments as well. We need board members who can maintain a vision of development without sacrificing the history that makes East Dundee special. Right now the front door to East Dundee, Route 25 & Route 72 is in need of a lot of vision and incentive for development. We need to approach that area with a sense of urgency that has been lacking for some time.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I've lived in the Fox Valley my whole life and East Dundee for the past 14 years. I will be a voice for parents of students in District 300, and my wife is a small-business owner. I am also the only new candidate running against 3 incumbents so I will bring a fresh perspective to the 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 in collaboration and accountability. I want to hear from the citizens of East Dundee and work with them to make a better community. As for accountability I will always take calls or meetings with anyone looking to talk and I will propose biennial town hall meetings similar to what was done during the Home Rule campaign to allow for the board to share their vision with the community and for the people of East Dundee to ask board members questions.

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?

Recently there was a campaign to end Home Rule in East Dundee and the biggest talking point the anti-HR side used was the Village's debt. While I'm glad that the Village maintained its home rule, there is validity in the argument that the Village is carrying too much debt. Some of it has brought us development, which I think is great, but some of it was an unnecessary risk for the Village to take. For instance loans to private businesses, this is what banks are for.

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

I'd like to see the old Haeger Potteries building rezoned as residential. This is riverfront and bike path accessible property, and close to the downtown area which has already seen a lot of renovation. It's time to move that renovation South. While the building is historic, it is also completely run down and out of code, to the point that it is not viable for a manufacturing business. The most recent business that moved into the building was forced to close due to the amount of repair that the building needed because of codes that were grandfathered in when the building was sold.