Dennis Hogan: Candidate profile
Bio
Name: Dennis Hogan
City: Winfield
Office sought: Trustee
Age: 72
Family: Wife, Jo Ann, married 45 years; three children; five grandchildren.
Occupation: Army Corps of Engineers regional real estate director, retired.
Education: Bachelor of Science degree, University of Maryland, College Park.
Civic involvement: Youth sports coach 10 years; chairman of Winfield's Comprehensive Plan Committee and of Winfield's Economic Development Committee.
Previous elected offices held: Trustee.
Incumbent: 2015.
Website: WinfieldWorkingTogether.com.
Facebook: WinfieldWT
Twitter: @WinfieldWorking
Issue questions
Q. What are the most important issues facing Winfield and how do you intend to address them?
Generating increased revenue, predominantly through expanding our property and sales tax bases through smart development.
Raising property taxes on our residents is not an option for me. As pension costs, infrastructure expenses, etc. rise, we need to ensure revenues increase accordingly. This can be done only by continuing our current focus on expanding commercial and residential development.
We recently completed an annexation to North Avenue and have a new $23 million e-Commerce Center being developed. The first phase of construction along the new Roosevelt Road commercial corridor will begin shortly. New residential development along County Farm Road is nearly complete.
All of this is good, but only the beginning. We now are reviewing a proposed 150-unit high-end apartment complex for the area just south of the Town Center railroad tracks that has great potential. We need to reach agreement with CDH-Northwestern Hospital on the proposed massive redevelopment of the north side of our Town Center into a commercial/cultural/medical complex that generates tax revenue for the village, while providing CDH needed expansion.
And, we need to continue developing the Roosevelt Road corridor.
Q. What makes you the best candidate for the job?
I am always prepared. If you're going to be a trustee, you need to take the time to understand all facets of the various actions being decided by the village board. This is not a position where you can just mail it in. You need to do the hard work.
I also am an independent trustee who votes according to his conscience and never "rubber stamps" mediocre or bad proposals. Good governing is critical to this position and every elected official has an obligation to be an independent voice who serves only the residents and businesses of the community - all of them.
We must embrace independent thought, new concepts and reject "group think". This is a problem on our board.
Finally, I also believe in fiscal responsibility and transparency - concepts all should embrace.
Q. Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your village board.
Throughout my professional career and since becoming a trustee, I've always worked to listen to the other side. You get good ideas if you're willing to listen with an open mind. Innovation and good government are impossible if you believe only one way is the correct way - or worse yet, if you reject new ideas simply to maintain the status quo because it requires less thought process.
Professionally, I managed multiple programs in different states and countries at the same time. I had no option but to give people the flexibility to go out on the limb to close deals when needed. Good results usually happen if you encourage people to use innovative methods to achieve a goal. It works in business and it works in government.
As a board, all of us must be flexible. I also believe our entire board needs to support our volunteers and should not be placing roadblocks in their path. Our volunteers provide us expertise in unique areas, have technical skills not possessed in-house and possess a willingness to serve our community. Leadership is supporting their efforts and working alongside them on committees. They really come up with some great, innovative ideas.
Q. How would you describe the condition of Winfield's budget, and what are the most important specific actions the board should take to assure you are providing the services people want?
Winfield is similar to other municipalities in its continual battle to stay ahead financially. Our pension costs are rising, our infrastructure expenditures are increasing, while at the same time the state is burdening us with unfunded mandates and a diversion of income tax receipts from municipal to state coffers.
I truly believe Winfield is fiscally responsible. Our staff is proportionately small in relation to other municipalities. Our reserves are sound and we always try to expend funds as cost-effectively as possible. I think we do a good job, but realize we must increase revenues in order to survive.
As previously indicated, we've initiated large development projects on the south and north edges of the municipality. New residential developments along County Farm Road are nearly completed. We now need to focus on developing the Town Center on both sides of the railroad tracks and on creating additional development along the Roosevelt Road corridor.
I'm glad that in my four years on the board we've had major development initiatives and always support exploring ways to increase our property and sales tax bases. It's the only we'll be able to maintain quality services for the residents.
Q. What's one good idea you have to better your community that no one is talking about yet?
I am an advocate for reaching out to our community businesses. I think we can do this better. We have a very lean staff that simply doesn't have time to devote to this type of outreach. Various trustees are doing this, but, as a board, we need to develop a program to systematically meet with our community businesses on a recurring basis. We need to determine what's working for them, what we as a municipality can do better for them, what their needs are, etc.
We can do this as a board and collectively share this information as a part of a process to better serve the needs of our business community.