Ray Deyne: Candidate profile
Bio
Name: Ray Deyne
City: Bartlett, Illinois
Office sought: Village of Bartlett Trustee
Age (on election day): +50
Family: Wife Peggy, Son Ray, Ray, Daughter Kristine, Granddaughter Brittany
Occupation: Environmental Consultant
Education: St. Clements Grade School, St. George High School, Loyola University
Civic involvement:
• Served as Vice President of Community Development and President of the Bartlett Jaycees
• Appointed to the Bartlett Plan Commission in 1981 and served as Chairman from 1983 to 2015
• Served as chairman of the Bartlett Learning Center Golf Outing from 1993 to 2012
• Currently Treasurer of the Hanover Township Foundation with direct involvement with the food pantry
• Served on the 4th of July Committee
• Served as a volunteer for the Special Olympics
• Currently a member of Arts in Bartlett
• Life member in the Bartlett Historical Society
• Currently a member in the Bartlett Rotary
• Currently Village of Bartlett Trustee
Previous elected offices held: Trustee Village of Bartlett, 2015 to date
Incumbent? Yes. If yes, when were you first elected? 2015
Website: Rayforbarlett.com
Facebook: facebook.com/rayforbartlett
Twitter:
Issue questions
What are the most important issues facing your community and how do you intend to address them?
Ensure the conversion to Lake Michigan water is completed on time and comes in under budget. In spite of the inclement weather we must continue to monitor its progress.
Develop the property along Route 59. Specifically the southwest corner of Lake Street and Rt. 59 and the northwest corner of West Bartlett Road and Rt. 59. We must continue to actively market these sites to developers for retail/commercial and possibly residential uses.
Continue to market Site E in our downtown with residential units, encouraging and improving walkability in downtown, which would be a benefit to the existing businesses.
Address train/traffic congestion on West Bartlett Road and Stearns with a possible railroad overpass.
Continue to seek a source for another grocery store, an auto dealership, or possibly a hotel.
What makes you the best candidate for the job?
We moved to our community in 1976. I've seen our village grow from 4,000 to over 40,000 residents. I'm really blessed to have a loving wife, Peggy, an awesome son, Ray, Ray, an incredible daughter, Kris, and an amazing granddaughter, Brittany. They, as well as myself, all love and share a passion for our community. Community involvement has always been part of our lives.
Some of my community involvement includes but is not limited to the following:
Served as Vice President of Community Development and President of the Bartlett Jaycees.
Appointed to the Bartlett Plan Commission in 1981 and served as Chairman from 1983 to 2015.
Served as chairman of the Bartlett Learning Center Golf Outing from 1993 to 2012.
Currently Treasurer of the Hanover Township Foundation with direct involvement with the food pantry.
Served on the 4th of July Committee.
Served as a volunteer for the Special Olympics.
Currently a member of Arts in Bartlett.
Life member in the Bartlett Historical Society.
Currently a member in the Bartlett Rotary
Currently Village of Bartlett Trustee
Describe your leadership style and explain how you think that will be effective in producing actions and decisions with your village board.
I pride myself on being a good listener, obtaining all the facts and weighing the options. Moreover, I have a relationship of trust with my fellow trustees, staff, and most importantly the residents of our wonderful community.
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?
I'm very proud of the fact that for the past four years we have continued to keep or lower our tax levy. Our bond rating was reaffirmed by Moody's as Aa1. Our village is also ranked the 9th safest community in the U.S. for populations over 25,000 residents. This is a direct reflection of the current board that serves our community. We need to continue to be fiscally creative and responsible without cutting any services to our residents. Continue to be proactive rather than reactive.
What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?
Basically, I would like to see if we can draw more family businesses. I think it would be nice to have some type of Indoor trampoline activities, a Go Kart track or some other activity a family could enjoy. Let's keep our families in and enjoy the benefits of Bartlett.