Stephanie Biegel: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Stephanie Biegel

City: Carol Stream

Office sought: Village Trustee

Age: 37

Family:

Occupation: Sr Accountant with DuPage Medical Group

Education: BS in Accounting from Bradley University, Certified Management Accountant, 30 hours of continuing education in Accounting and Financial Analysis each year

Civic involvement: I am a volunteer and speaker for a local domestic violence organization, have been both president and treasurer of the Newport Villages Condo Association, I am a current Precinct Committeeman for Wayne Township, campaign volunteer for various local campaigns, member of the League of Women Voters, and co-admin of Carol Stream Community Activists

Previous elected offices held:

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected?

Website: www.stephaniebforcarolstream.com

Facebook: StephanieBforTrustee

Twitter:

Issue questions

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

The most important issue facing Carol Stream right now is the issue with their budgets going forward. Carol Stream currently does not have a village tax and the biggest source of funding for the village is currently from sales tax. With the loss of top revenue generators in fiscal year 2019, we are projected to come in $700,000 below budget at the end of this fiscal year. If they are unable to bridge the current gap through cost reductions or increased revenues this could cause them to have to turn to a village tax. For many of the people that I have talked to this is their biggest issue. What I have been hearing is that so many family budgets are tight and any increase in costs could cause residents to look elsewhere to live. We never want to lose residents because they cannot afford to live here. I would be able to bring my accounting background to the board in order to provide an experienced voice to the budgeting process in order to create the best budget for our community and our citizens.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I am an accountant with over 15 years of experience. I have worked with companies of all sizes with an emphasis on budgeting, forecasting, cost reduction strategies, and cash flow management which would be an asset to our board. I have held a Certified Management Accountant certification since 2014. As a CMA I am certified with a focus on business analysis, strategy, and all aspect of financial management. I am also required to act according to their ethical principles of Honesty, Fairness, Objectivity, and Responsibility which would guide how I serve on the board. In addition, I just spent two years as president of my condo board and have also spent time as it's treasurer. We took over a difficult situation and worked hard with the community and management to get many much-needed projects completed all while keeping us below our budget for the year. I would also bring a new voice to the village board and always work in the best interests of our residents. I started attending meetings a while ago, even before deciding to run for trustee and have continued regularly attending meetings so I can be ready to jump in when I am elected.

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 leader I strive to be educated on the issues facing the group so I can evaluate what is brought before me in the best way. I am open to ideas and other opinions and want my groups to be a collaborative effort and not an authoritative rule. Groups are not always in the best position when there is an overabundance of group think going on. When only one viewpoint or only one type of background is represented by a group, the best decisions for the group as a whole are often times not being met. I am open and transparent with my actions. I would be honored to serve on this village board and look forward to having the opportunity to work with the other members of the board for the best of Carol Stream. I am not one that believes that my ideas are always the best idea but believe that the best ideas come from collaboration from all. I enjoy learning and growing from others and their ideas and think that I could bring value to the board with my experience.

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?

While Carol Stream has done a very good job in the past with their budget that relies mainly on sales tax revenue, the recent loss of some of the highest revenue generators to other towns is significantly impacting the ability to have a balanced budget without turning to a village tax going forward. Currently there is a projected deficit for our next fiscal year. Since about 75% of the expenses are personnel related, Carol Stream needs to focus on attracting and retaining businesses to help make up for this loss of revenue without having to cut staffing and the level of service that our residents expect and deserve. In addition, current open positions should be reviewed and evaluated to see if there are options to restructure departments to absorb the activities of these position into existing personnel or if there are any other less costly options like part time staffing.

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

I'd like to see Carol Stream engage more of our citizen in the village government. One example would be the creation of more citizen commissions in order to further engage residents of our community. For example, the nearby Village of Oak Park has several commissions staffed by residents of their community who have volunteered and been appointed to serve on these commission. Their commissions range from "Aging in Place" which allows residents over 55 to advise in policies that would help aging residents fully participate in their community to "Disability Access" and many more. I'd also like to see Carol Stream look at creating a participatory budgeting process for part of our village budget. This would help empower our constituents and allow us to work closely with them to develop portions of the budget. Participatory budgeting can bring an increase in civic engagement, create stronger relationships between the residents and the government, allow for a broader participation in government, and help develop new community leaders. It can also give the board greater insight into where there may be gaps in services and where the greatest needs in the community may be based on actual citizen experiences.