Janice L. Sauer: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Janice L. Sauer

City: North Barrington

Office sought: North Barrington Village Trustee

Age (on Election Day): 65

Family: Husband and two adult sons.

Occupation: Vice President of Operations for Servare Products, L.L.C.

Education: B.A. in Organizational Behavior and Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Civic involvement:

Village of North Barrington Trustee involvement: Currently serving as the President Pro-Tem of the Board, Member of the Village's Finance Committee, Trustee responsible for road, bridge and culvert repairs, Trustee responsible for stormwater management, Current Trustee Liaison to the Village's Zoning Board of Appeals, Past Trustee Liaison to the Plan Commission, Alternate Village Representative to the Barrington Council of Governments.

Barrington Unit School District 220 Past involvement: Past Vice-President of the Roslyn Road Elementary School PTO, Past President of the Barrington High School Swim Team Boosters, Two-term Past President of the Barrington High School Fine Arts Boosters.

Community involvement: Past President of P.E.O. (International Women's Philanthropic & Educational Organization), Volunteer with Citizens for Conservation, Past Volunteer with Marcy Newbury Foundation to assist the homeless.

Previous elected offices held: North Barrington Village Trustee, 2013-present.

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? Yes, appointed in 2013 and elected in 2015.

Website: www.FocusedOnNorthBarrington.com

Facebook: n/a

Twitter: n/a

Issue questions

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

In my mind, respecting our taxpayers and fighting to protect home values are the top two issues for the North Barrington Village Board to continue addressing. The uncertainty surrounding our state's finances as well as escalating property taxes, require local government leaders to hold the line firmly on spending and watch every penny. Our Village must continue to work diligently to contain costs, keep a balanced budget, and maintain a reserve fund in order to respect taxpayers. Additionally, fighting to protect our way of life and tranquil community has become a key mission for the Village over the last few years. Just last year, the Village Board worked to defeat a large-scale commercial chicken farm that began operating without proper authorization. This facility would have added truck traffic to local roads and could have created air and water quality problems for the entire Barrington region. Our Village Board worked with state, county and local partners to forcibly annex and then shut down the chicken operation. The Village needs to continue to take an active role in fighting traffic congestion, environmental threats and unauthorized businesses that threaten the integrity of our bedroom community and our home values.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

As a Village Trustee, a business professional, a volunteer, mother and wife I have always tried to think of others first. For the past five years as a Village Trustee, I have worked with the needs of residents in mind. As the Trustee responsible for our road repairs, I have met with homeowners to discuss street improvements. As the Trustee tasked with addressing storm water management, I have also worked with community members struggling with flooded out yards. These opportunities to work with and help my neighbors have been rewarding. Even though this position is a volunteer job, I have striven to be hands on, putting in the hours necessary to help the community. For these reasons and because I believe I can continue offering my time to the Village, I am seeking a second term as Trustee.

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

I have a collaborative style and try to build consensus as a leader. Working in a customer service profession and serving on the Village Board has taught me that seeking first to understand, before wanting to be understood, is the best way to move an organization forward. I believe I have worked well with my colleagues on the Board as well as with the community at large, because I believe the best solutions come from working out problems constructively and collaboratively. Usually, in doing so, the solution reached is permanent and does not result in the creation of new problems.

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 Village of North Barrington has maintained strong financial practices, consistently balancing budgets and, as a Village Board, we have wisely maintained a reserve fund in case of emergencies. Arriving at these fiscally conservative results has taken difficult decisions and occasionally requires saying no to unnecessary expenditures that don't fit into our core function as local government. Our Board has focused on what residents expect in services and we have diligently worked to maintain those core functions (road, bridge and culvert maintenance, trash/recycling collection, snow removal, etc). Expanding non-core, unnecessary programs only adds costs, which end up costing taxpayers. To ensure we are able to maintain our levels of service we have been dedicated to containing costs and operating a lean operation.

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

The first relates to our Barrington area's propensity for flooding. Our area is blessed with an abundance of wildlife and beautiful open spaces. The Lake County Forest Preserve District and Barrington's Citizens For Conservation realized several decades ago that protecting our wetlands, fens, bogs and marshes was a must in regional planning. Years of residential development, however, have created more demand on the Barrington area's unique water rich open spaces. Flooding has become a real concern over the past decade. I would like to see the village (in coordination with our Environmental Commission) partner with Citizens for Conservation, Lake County Stormwater Management and the Forest Preserve District to create a Rain Garden Awareness Program for North Barrington. Rain gardens have recently been constructed in the Village of Tower Lakes to successfully alleviate some of their flooding issues. If residents throughout our village had more knowledge of the benefits a rain garden and landscaping designed to absorb water can provide, we could lessen some of our overall flooding and enhance home values.