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Thomas W. Piorkowski: 2021 candidate for Roselle Village Board

Five candidates are squaring off for three 4-year seats on Roselle Village Board in the April 6 election. They are incumbent Barbara Sarno; Thomas Piorkowski, president of the Roselle Public Library District Board; and newcomers Tom Della Penna, Lydia Galante and Cheryl J. Lenisa.

The Daily Herald asked the candidates several questions about issues facing the village.

Below are Piorkowski's responses.

In-person early voting with paper ballots begins Feb. 25 at DuPage County Fairgrounds Building 5, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton. In-person early voting with touch-screen voting begins March 22 at locations throughout the county. Learn more at www.dupageco.org/earlyvoting/.

Five candidates running for three, 4-year term

Bio

Town: Roselle

Age: 32

Occupation: Assistant real estate tax analyst, The Law Offices of Amari & Locallo; adjunct instructor, Elmhurst University's history department

Civic involvement: Roselle Public Library District trustee, 2015 to present, vice president, 2017-19, and president, 2019 to present; Roselle Zoning Board of Appeals commissioner, 2009-15; Roselle Public Library Foundation director and treasurer, 2014-18; Friends of the Roselle Public Library member, 2016 to present; Roselle History Museum volunteer, 2015 to present, director, 2017 to present, and secretary, 2019 to present; Flags for Roselle director, 2019 to present, vice president, 2019-20, and secretary, 2020 to present; and Lake Park Educational Foundation trustee, 2020 to present

Q&A

Q: How do you view your role in confronting the pandemic: provide leadership even if unpopular, give a voice to constituents — even ones with whom you disagree, or defer to state and federal authorities?

A: I feel that the role calls for both leadership and some level of deference to other governmental entities, as well as deference to the information that comes from the scientific community. Times are tough and often a crisis will call for people to make sacrifices in order to get through it.

By working together, we will be able to pull through this, though, even if it will not always be easy.

Q: Did your town continue to adequately serve its constituents during the disruptions caused by the pandemic? If so, please cite an example of how it successfully adjusted to providing services. If not, please cite a specific example of what could have been done better.

A: I believe that we did an excellent job in many respects. The village moved quickly to close nonessential government buildings to the public in order to help reduce contact, but they were still able to provide essential services to our residents. Also, the village put a hold on water shut-offs for nonpayment, as well as pushed back the vehicle sticker deadlines, to help ease the burden for some residents who may have been facing difficult financial situations.

Q: In light of our experiences with COVID-19, what safeguards/guidelines should you put in place to address any future public health crises?

A: I think the main way we can address issues like this in the future is through quick action. We generally know the things that need to be done to help prevent the spread of contagious illnesses, so the key to addressing the issue is implementing preventive measures in a timely manner to prevent further spread. One corollary to this is to ensure that we have adequate reserves of PPE material on hand in case a similar situation occurs in the future.

Q: What cuts can local government make to reduce the burden of the pandemic on taxpayers?

A: I do not feel like there are many cuts that can be made as our current board has done an excellent job on this front. The property tax assessed by the village remains low, constituting a very small portion of our residents' overall tax bills, and our sales tax assessment remains extremely reasonable.

Since the majority of village expenses are tied to personnel costs, reductions in that area of the budget should be avoided unless absolutely necessary since this would directly impact residents by limiting the village's ability to provide services.

Overall, the village has done an excellent job of ensuring that there is a healthy balance between maintaining the ability to provide essential services and keeping the tax burden for our residents at a reasonable level.

Q: What do you see as the most important infrastructure project you must address? Why and how should it be paid for? Conversely, during these uncertain economic times, what infrastructure project can be put on the back burner?

A: Updating our water system remains the top priority facing the village in the coming years. The system is simply aging and the need for these updates will be inevitable.

Fortunately, this is something that the village has been preparing for, so we are well positioned to confront this issue. As for something that the village can cut back on, I believe the best strategy would be to target how we go about completing these projects rather than cutting or delaying anything completely.

The village has done an excellent job over the last few years preparing for unforeseen circumstances while still allowing for forward movement with these types of projects. The main way we could cut down on expenses moving forward would be to decrease our use of third party consultants and other middlemen that add costs to projects.

Q: Do you agree or disagree with the stance your board/council has taken on permitting recreational marijuana sales in the community? What would you change about that stance, if you could?

A: Overall, I do agree with the village's current policies regarding this. If we were to expand access, I would want to do so very cautiously with appropriate restrictions. For example, creating special zoning to allow for sales to occur in the industrial park rather than in central commercial corridors.

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

A: I would like to review the village's current pet and animal policies to provide more clarity and flexibility for residents. For example, currently residents are allowed to have up to three dogs and three cats, for a total of six pets, but they cannot exceed either individual total. In such instances they would be considered an unlicensed “small animal store” and subject to any fines related to this.

A more flexible policy would allow for a resident to have up to four of either species while still retaining the overall six-pet maximum and remove jurisdiction over this from the business code.

I would like to review similar policies such as these related not only to animals, but concerning several other areas under the village's jurisdiction.

I believe there are ways that we can revise the village's policies regarding codes and code enforcement to make it so that they are both clearer to residents and so that they work better for them.

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