Kelli Christiansen: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Kelli Christiansen

City: Village of Glen Ellyn

Office sought: Trustee, Village Board

Age: 49

Family: Married to Patrick Ryan, and we live with our sweet girl, Lacey the Dog

Occupation: President, bibliobibuli

Education: B.A. cum laude, Northern Illinois University; MBA coursework, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Civic involvement: Commissioner, Village of Glen Ellyn Historic Preservation Commissioner, Board Member, Citizens for Glen Ellyn Preservation, Board Member, Glen Ellyn Library Foundation, Volunteer, Friends of the Library

Previous elected offices held: Trustee, Glen Ellyn Public Library Board of Trustees, 2013-17

Incumbent: If yes, when were first elected? No.

Website:

Facebook:

Twitter:

Issue questions

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

Parking, business development, and taxes are perennial issues - and they are all related, even though, all too often, they are treated as discrete subjects and tackled independently. A new streetscape and utility plan is in the works for the central business district, and we need to look at that in light of our various comprehensive and strategic plans in order to form a cohesive, long-term vision with enumerated strategies for executing that vision in a way that helps us fulfill the mission of Glen Ellyn and solidify the Village's reputation as one of the preeminent suburbs of Chicago. We must do this while considering the wants and needs of the residents of Glen Ellyn. As I write this, the Village Board is considering the redevelopment of the Giesche site with the Apex400 apartment complex. This has proven to be a divisive issue. Coming not long on the heels of the proposed gas station at Five Corners, a project about which many residents felt ignored as well, a crucial issue is that, when it comes to major redevelopments in the Village, too many residents feel like they are not being heard.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

Three of us are running unopposed for three vacant trustee spots. I admire each of my fellow candidates and wouldn't presume myself better than either of them in one way or another. I can speak to my strengths, however, and one of those strengths is listening to people. As a writer and editor, my trade is communicating. Communicating is more about listening than about speaking. The Village invites residents to join the conversation about key issues, but we need to find more ways to encourage more residents to become involved earlier in these important discussions. Whether it's the Five Corners gas station development or the Giesche site, we need to ensure that we're listening to what residents are saying instead of simply telling them what we think they should know and what's best for them. We need to find more and better ways to bring the conversation to residents instead of compelling them to do the work of tracking down issues that are important to them. And we need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of developments and initiatives so that residents can feel more comfortable with decisions about how their tax dollars are being used.

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.

From what I've seen during my tenure on the Village's Historic Preservation Commission, other commissions, staff, and the Board do a lot of good work to ensure progress on myriad issues. As far as leadership style goes, I trust those around me to be the experts in their given areas, although perhaps with a "trust but verify" qualifier. My approach is to ask a lot of questions, conduct additional research as necessary, and talk with people in order to get a full picture of the throughlines underlying each issue, what the costs and benefits are, and what the pros and cons are. I also want to hear opposing viewpoints - so long as debate is respectful, civil, and productive. It's important to remember that everyone wants Glen Ellyn to be the best it can be for all residents, business owners, and visitors, whether north or south of Roosevelt Road. We might not agree on what's best for the Village, and we might not agree on how to achieve our goals, but we should all agree that we can achieve the best only by being our best selves and doing our best on behalf of our neighbors.

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?

Through and since the Great Recession, Glen Ellyn has proven its economic resiliency, thanks to some excellent financial stewardship. Although we have seen increases in fees and taxes, these were enacted to improve services - and done so in such a way that, with the food and beverage tax for instance, will spread the pain beyond the residents of Glen Ellyn. No one wants to see taxes and fees increase. Yet everyone wants to maintain the services and amenities that make Glen Ellyn a great place to live and work. Our effective tax rate is about 2.87 percent, lower than neighboring towns like Lombard and Glendale Heights, but higher than Wheaton and Lisle. It's crucial that we remain competitive in this area. I want to ensure that we're being straight with residents and business owners when taxes and/or fees need to be increased. I don't want to see the Village boast about keeping taxes steady if we're raising fees at the same time. Whether it's higher property tax bills or higher water bills packed with extra fees, all those payments come from the same checkbook. Residents deserve complete honesty when it comes to how much they're paying to live here.

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

The Village should investigate ways to revamp the application and review process for new developments and other initiatives. If we have learned one thing from the intense debate resulting from the Five Corners gas station development and the redevelopment of the Giesche site, it is that too many of our taxpayers believe they aren't being heard. Part of this stems from the fact that public input isn't always actively sought early on in the process for major developments. Although, of course, the public is welcome to attend commission meetings, board workshops, and regular Village Board meetings, this option simply isn't on the radar for most people - people who are busy doing all sorts of other things. As a result, we often see what essentially boils-down to last-minute revision requests made of developers who often already have spent many months - and many dollars - tweaking plans to suit the requests and suggestions of Staff and various commissioners. We need to rethink this process so that: residents feel they have opportunities to provide necessary input; staff, commissioners, and Board members contribute as necessary; business owners and developers can save time, money, and resources; and developments and initiatives can be implemented more efficiently.