Paul Wm. Hoefert: Candidate profile
Bio
Name: Paul Wm. Hoefert
Municipality: Mount Prospect, Illinois
Office Sought: Mount Prospect Village Trustee (Re-Election Bid)
Age (on Election Day): 63 (Have lived in Mount Prospect for 35 years)
Family: Linda (Spouse); Alex (Son) and Sara (Daughter-in-Law), Andrew (Son)
Occupation: Senior Vice President and Director of Private Banking at First Midwest Bank (40 Years in Financial Services)
Education: Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) Bachelor of Science, Major: Finance / DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois) Master of Business Administration
Civic Involvement: Mount Prospect Village Board Representative to the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (28 years) / Mount Prospect Historical Society Board (30 years) / Boy Scout Troop 23 Assistant Scoutmaster (22 years) / Trinity United Methodist Church Trustee (1 year) / DePaul University College of Business Advisory Board (22 years),
Previous Elected Offices Held: None
Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? 1991
Website: PaulHoefert.com
Facebook: Re-Elect Paul Hoefert Vote April 2, 2019
ISSUE QUESTIONS
What are the most important issues facing your community and how do you intend to address them?
Maintaining a Strong Financial Position is Paramount. I am deeply concerned about our Village's increasing debt levels and the impact that debt levels may have on the financial health and tax burden in the future especially if there is a downturn. That was the primary reason that I voted against spending $15 million on the new Fire Station. Going forward, we will need to knock down higher debt levels with as little impact as possible to our taxpayers.
Providing Robust Basic Services such as Police, Fire, Public Works, and Human Services are the primary reason Village Government exists and I will continue to support policies to appropriately fund these Departments.
Redevelopment must be ongoing. I support appropriate redevelopment. Properties that remain undeveloped for too long are a financial drag and can affect community desirability as it relates to prospective residents and businesses which in turn impact property values.
We must protect our Residential Neighborhoods from negative intrusions as they are the backbone of the community and can be fragile. Neighborhoods, after all, are where people live.
A healthy business community goes hand in hand with a healthy residential community. I will continue to support policies such as the 6B and Facade Improvement Programs to promote new and maintain existing businesses.
What makes you the best candidate for the job?
During my 28 years on the Mount Prospect Village Board, I have built strong skills and developed deep experience in good economic times and bad. During my time on the Board, we have accomplished a great deal such as economic development, flood control, downtown redevelopment, and maintaining a strong fiscal position to name only a few, all while keeping a solid sense of local community with a focus toward protecting our neighborhoods which are the backbone of our Village.
It has been a true honor to serve the people of Mount Prospect as their Trustee. I have always viewed my service on the Village Board as my way of giving back to our community. There is so much more to do and I would like to contribute to our future progress. I am running for re-election to promote growth through economic development which is key to a vibrant, and financially sound community, to insure that our Village continues to provide high-quality, basic services such as Police, Fire, Public Works, and Human Services needed by the citizens every day, to insuring a transparent and open local government process, and to maintain our strong, conservative fiscal position while keeping a lid on taxes and spending wisely.
Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your Village Board.
I have a Participatory, Consultative Leadership-style. As an elected leader in Mount Prospect, we must listen to what the people want for their local neighborhoods and for our Villagewide community. That is why we are elected. I have also proven that I am not afraid to take a contrary stand when I believe the Village Board is moving in the wrong direction. In 2007, I took a very strong stand against the "Small Triangle" downtown development where I felt the Village was providing far too much in "taxpayer" support (dollars and land). Ultimately, that project was not built. Recently, I took an opposing position relative to spending $15 million of taxpayer dollars for a new Fire Station which I felt we did not need at his time. The Village Board is about to review and take action on the proposed 8 story, 330 unit Maple Street Lofts downtown development which the local neighborhood does not support. While I support appropriate development of this parcel, I have publicly expressed my concerns about the density of this project as it relates to traffic generation, traffic movements, and parking. My voting record shows that I do not go along to get along.
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?
By policy and purposeful action, the Mount Prospect Village Board has always maintained a conservative approach to Village finances and maintaining a healthy and balanced Village budget which has provided us with great flexibility. As such, our Village has been able to weather the storm during economic downturns and move forward in strong economic environments. Today our financial condition is extremely strong. We have well-funded General Fund Reserves (our Village saving account) and our various accounting funds are more than adequately funded to assist us with necessary capital expenditures in the future. We have also put policies in place to more aggressively fund our future required pension payments so as not to come up short. We (I) have voted to expend the funds necessary to stay ahead of our infrastructure repairs and improvements with the goal of minimizing the funds required to be spent. If deferred, the cost of capital improvements tend to grow exponentially. Finally, we have accomplished this with a stated goal of minimizing increases in taxes. In fact, given our current strong funding situation, I proposed and found support for a 0 percent (no increase) in our property tax levy in the 2019 budget.
What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?
I have two:
1. Taking Village Government to the People. I recently proposed taking our Village Government to the people by holding quarterly meetings in various neighborhoods around the Village. By doing this, citizens that might not otherwise have contact with their elected officials and senior staff, would have convenient accessibility and we as elected officials would have another direct way to hear from and understand the concerns that our citizens have in their neighborhoods and with the Village, as a whole. Outreach is a specific goal of mine and this would be another direct, face-to-face way of hearing from our citizens.
2. Mount Prospect needs a "Graduated Skilled Care Facility". We do have living facilities focused on senior living but those facilities do not provide skilled care, when needed. As such, citizens who have lived the majority of their lives in Mount Prospect must move out of Village to find a care facility when they have a need for skilled care. Virtually all of the surrounding Villages have these types of facilities available. I will work to see a facility built in Mount Prospect which would provide a graduated level of care for its residents.