Q & A with Northbrook Village president candidate Kathryn Ciesla

Attorney Kathryn Ciesla, a Northbrook resident for the past 20 years, is the Northbrook Caucus' slated candidate for village board president in the general consolidated election on April 6.

Ciesla is the village board's senior trustee; she began the first of three terms in 2009. She chairs the Administration and Finance Committee.

Ciesla recently participated in a discussion with the Daily Herald, held remotely, concerning her candidacy. It should be noted her opponent, former Northbrook Village President Eugene Marks, was invited to participate in the discussion but did not respond.

The following are Ciesla's responses, edited only for length and clarity.

DH: Why are you running for village president?

KC: I want to be village president for a few reasons. One, I have been raised with the value that it's really important to give back. So one of the ways in which I feel I can serve my community is by giving back and doing this village government work.

I also feel that I love being a mom, that's my favorite job ever, and I feel it's very important to instill in my daughters the idea of service and stewardship and their responsibility to speak up when there's something that they feel that needs doing, in their community, or in their school or wherever they're at ...

And I think it's time for me. I think three terms as a trustee is sufficient, and I'm really focused to understand the process, the operations of the village, and work with (current president) Sandy Frum, who's retiring. She's been my mentor all 12 years - and just to really get into that position and help us move forward.

DH: How would you describe Northbrook's response to the COVID pandemic?

KC: One of the things I'm most proud of is from the get-go we've been helping our businesses. In the very beginning of COVID, even before we adopted our budget, we revised our budget, we put a quarter of a million dollars in the budget as a grant program - the Northbrook Strong grant program - to help businesses reopen, to help businesses pay for that extra PPE (personal protective equipment).

I feel like we've done a great job and we will continue to do a great job.

(Ciesla noted the village's efforts to publicize and aid restaurants with relaxed parking restrictions, allowing carryout drinks and providing more room for outdoor seating by closing streets and parking lots; she said the village has distributed thousands of masks and hand sanitizer to businesses and restaurants.)

I can tell you, one thing I'm particularly proud of in the recent past, is we typically give about $220,000 a year to local organizations that support our residents ... I addition to the $220,000 we were able to come up with an extra $137,000 to give out.

(She said due to this funding The Josselyn Center in Northbrook will train 200 teens and adults in mental health aid. Some $70,000, she said, came from residents' donations.)

Even though very publicly some members of our community have lost mental health battles due to COVID, I'm very proud that we're not running away from it, I'm proud that we're hitting it head on and doing what we can do. It's a big deal for me.

DH: Where does the Northbrook Court redevelopment stand?

KC: When COVID hit they decided to hold off for one year. But now we're seeing the requests for the building permits coming in and they're going to start with the construction of that outside portion where Macy's was. That's really exciting. I think it will tremendously help our economy. It's an investment in our community that didn't cost us; we did give them a TIF, but I think that it's going to be really, really great, and it's a good focus.

(She said Northbrook Court has put in $250 million to modernize the mall. She added that of the 30% of Northbrook revenues coming from sales taxes, Northbrook Court provides a third of that.)

DH: We hear talk about defunding the police department. What's your stance on that?

KC: A hundred percent, Northbrook does not want to defund the police. We have not defunded the police, the police have the same budget, we've not reduced the budget. Absolutely not.

I'm proud to say that the entire village, including the Police Department, has not had a discrimination claim in the 12 years that I've been a trustee. That's not to say we don't need more education, but no way do I want to defund the police. And at the same time, I think you can support the Black Lives Matter movement and support the police. I don't think those are mutually inconsistent.

DH: What's the status of the Northbrook Days Festival?

KC: Northbrook is in ongoing talks with the Civic Foundation to try to find an alternative (to Village Green Park, which the park district has said is "not an option.")

I don't know if Northbrook Days will proceed. I think some towns are sort of penciling into budgets Fourth of July celebrations, the parades and things. I'm not sure what'll happen.

But Northbrook Days is something that our community (sees as) a big deal every year. So you want to see it continue. We will do our very best to try to help Civic find an alternative location and be as supportive as we can.

DH: In December Northbrook adopted a resolution amending its affordable housing plan. Can you address this?

KC: We did hold - I just want to say for the record - 14 public meetings on affordable housing. But as we all know sometimes the information doesn't filter to everybody. We're providing information as much as we can, but Sandy and I had a meeting just a week or so again with a pastor from a local church whose congregation is interested in promoting affordable housing opportunities. That's sort of small scale.

I am working with TotalLink2 Community, which is a local not-for-profit that works to help young adults who have disabilities get jobs ... One of the things that I'm working on is an outreach with TotalLink2 and doing a panel with the caucus candidates to talk about affordable housing, to say what it means, to say what the ordinance includes, and how we'd like to work with different organizations and hear their input with respect to what we should do in Northbrook.

There's a location in Glenview where a not-for-profit has built affordable units, a whole host of townhouses for folks with disabilities. I think that there may be opportunity for us to find some space, maybe in the downtown or close to the downtown, for that type of dwelling. And then those large-scale developments, well, there's really not a lot of large-scale opportunity left, right? Probably at Green Acres, maybe some other smaller pieces.

DH: A key to the plan is an affordable housing trust fund.

KC: I want to be very firm about saying, we're not looking for the taxpayers of Northbrook to fund these options. This can be something that can be funded by developers (through fee-in-lieu payments) and I think it's reasonable.

If I use Green Acres as an example, Green Acres is 127 acres and the owner purchased it for $9.7 million. If I take out 37 acres that the developer would give the Park District as an impact fee, those 90 acres would be worth about $110,000 an acre. If you said, "I have an acre of land to sell you in Northbrook for $110,000," everybody would jump on it, right? So I think it's undervalued. So I really do think developers will be able to make money, still, and will be able to diversify our community.

We'll be able to get our employers to have their workers live nearby, younger families will be able to find starter homes in our community, certainly more opportunity for seniors and then again, folks who have disabilities. You want your parents close, right, as they age? And as you age, if your child has a disability you want your kid to be close. That's something that we need to look at.

DH: What's your overall philosophy of governance?

KC: The beauty of this role is we're not career politicians. I have a day job. I view myself as your neighbor and someone who should be accessible and someone who can help move the community forward. I'm a steward, I'm a caretaker, and that's how I view my role.

I think I'll be successful if I approach meetings in an open way and with an open mind, I do my homework, I roll up my sleeves, I listen to what people have to say and then make a decision.

The role of trustee and village president is different. Right now as senior trustee I'm framing a lot of the conversation because I talk first. As village president I'll have to work very closely with Bob Israel, who will be my senior trustee, and make sure we structure things and set things in motion that really help move us forward.

I am a neighbor, I'm not the guy that wants all the photos to be about me. I just want to be your neighbor and I just want to help move it forward. I'm the daughter of two educators.

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