Sal Raspanti: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Sal Raspanti

City: Park Ridge

Office sought: 5th Ward Alderman

Age (on Election Day): April 2, 2019

Family: Anna (spouse), Luciana (Daughter), Diana (Daughter)

Occupation: Vice President of Global Sales, FM Global (Retired)

Civic involvement: Kiwanis, Oakton Sports Complex Citizens Advisory Task Force, Washington Playmakers, Planning & Zoning Commissioner, St. Paul the Cross Men's Club, Police Chief's Citizens Advisory Task Force

Previous elected offices held: Park Board Commissioner (2005-09) & 4th Ward Alderman (2011-13)

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected?

Website: www.salraspanti.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sal.raspanti.35

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@drit88

ISSUE QUESTIONS

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

I am concerned about density in our community and all the challenges that come with it, while trying to preserve the charm and character of community. I support a thorough review of the Comprehensive Plan to determine whether we should be encouraging or discouraging population through more multifamily residences. I'm also concerned about Fiscal Discipline. Recent action by my opponent to ignore the city's procurement policy and vote in favor of a $282,000 NO BID contract for Police Body Cams is unacceptable. Just last week Niles announced that after testing three different types of bodycams, it was buying one more camera than Park Ridge from another vendor for only $52,000 plus another $11,000 to upgrade the Niles Police's computer servers. Also, just last week my opponent voted in favor of spending up to and potentially beyond $150,000 of NON-BUDGETED taxpayer dollars for traffic studies, lane reduction, striping and possible reconstruction of intersections to accommodate Bikes Lanes on Busse Hwy. To be clear I support the idea of Bike Lanes and Police Body Cameras, but these kinds of expenditures need to run through the annual budgeting process and conform to the City's procurement policy.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

My experience from four years on the Board (2005-09), two years as 4th Ward Alderman, (2011-13), and my additional years as Planning & Zoning Commissioner and member of the Oakton Sports Complex Citizens Advisor Task Force, not only allows me to hit the ground running as a productive member of the City Council, but it also shows that I have the discipline to do the job right and the courage to take on the difficult decisions the City faces. My global sales management role within a Fortune 500 company, where I had accountability for a budget three times that of the city's, gives a unique perspective on what works and what doesn't when it comes to leadership.

Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your city council.

The leadership style that served me well throughout my professional career is driven by Collaboration with my team to Develop and Execute a strategic plan that includes metrics on how to measure progress toward the desired outcome. My leadership style optimizes productivity by empowering leaders to take ownership and to recognize or hold them accountable for the results. This leadership style also served me well during my four year term on the Park Board, where I served as President, Vice President and Treasurer, and my two year term as 4th Ward Alderman during which time I served as Public Safety Chairman, Intergovernmental Liaison, Economic Development Task Force Liaison, Police Chief's Citizens Advisory Task Force Liaison and member of the Mayor's Advisory Board.

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?

The finances are improving, however while the city's portion of the property tax bill has been reduced for three consecutive years (2016 8.1 percent, 2017 9 percent, 2018 10.1 percent), it's important to note those decreases came after the city's portion of the property tax bill was increased by 23 percent in 2015. I believe it's critical to remain focused on fiscal discipline and to have our priorities in line with the majority of taxpayers expectations without getting distracted on projects that are not in line with the best interests of 37k plus residents. We have to avoid deficit spending at all cost, so not to repeat the challenges we inherited when I and others joined the city council in 2011. I support spending down excess fund balances reserve, but have some reservations about the guidelines that call for maintaining three month fund balance reserves and would like the City Council to consider something closer to six months, if elected.

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

I support establishing designated sales tax revenue generating areas, where appropriate. For example, there may be areas within the Uptown, South Park and Higgins Corridor where such designated areas might make sense. To help define these areas, I believe in forming a Citizens Advisory Group to work closely with the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Staff. Establishing these areas will help us avoid situations like the Pusheen expansion on Main Street and Pearle Vision on Prospect, where in both cases businesses were turned away in spite of conforming to our codes.