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Laurence Herman: 2021 candidate for trustee in Oak Brook

Six candidates are running for three, 4-year seats on the Oak Brook Village Board.

Bio

City: Oak Brook

Age: 59

Occupation: CPA, Attorney, Financial Services Executive

Employer: Herman Agency, Inc.

Civic involvement: Have been civically engaged in communities I've lived in for years. Also serve and have served on multiple local and national trade associations and charity boards.

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. Oak Brook is unique among its neighboring communities in that about 40% of our population is over age 65. We therefore need to be especially vigilant in prioritizing Village services that promote the health safety of our residents. Among the services we can impact is our ambulance response capability. Oak Brook has for years been handicapped by an emergency response infrastructure that results in disparate ambulance response times to different parts of our Village. We need to be exploring ideas to improve responsiveness, including greater partnering with our neighboring communities.

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. Despite the unprecedented financial impact of the pandemic on Oak Brook, the Village proudly maintained all of its full-time employees on the payroll along with their 2020 pay raise intact. As a result Village services didn't miss a beat. This was despite a dramatic drop in requests for many services, such as a precipitous drop in fire department call volume. Unfortunately, in the midst of the pandemic, the looting episodes that originated in Chicago also threatened Oak Brook. Our police department, in collaboration with the County and neighboring community police departments, rose to the occasion to protect our businesses and residents.

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. A municipality has a somewhat more limited role than County and State governments in protecting the health of its residents through a pandemic. But we did experience the damaging financial impact an unexpected event like the pandemic can cause, upending our Village's financial health. We need to thoroughly examine every aspect of our operations to be sure we are operating as cost effectively as possible, while providing no reduction in services. We need to not only restore, but grow our Village reserves, so we can weather the financial impact of any future crisis.

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

A. It all starts with asking questions. For example, why is the average cost to the Village of Oak Brook of an ambulance/fire call about $3,400, while in next door Hinsdale it is less than $1,900 and in Westmont around $1,400. We can't make informed decisions unless we know the questions to ask and seek out answers to those questions. The incumbent trustees that I'm running against don't exhibit the financial curiosity needed more than ever to effectively serve our Village in these challenging financial times.

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. Oak Brook's problem is not so much neglected infrastructure as it is a propensity to pursue large budget infrastructure projects that are of limited utility to the Village as a whole. There are several recent examples of this where my incumbent opponent trustees voted in favor of multimillion dollar infrastructure projects that I know the residents of our Village never would have approved had they been aware of the details. We need to prioritize our limited funds for the projects that have the broadest utility to our residents.

Q. Do you plan to address businesses that don't adhere to the governor's order to close or restrict business?

A. Whether we agree or disagree with State mandates, it is our duty to uphold and enforce laws, starting with our own municipal laws which in Oak Brook are not always uniformly applied. As Trustee, I will work to ensure consistent application of all our laws.

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. Oak Brook has firmly rejected permitting marijuana sales in Oak Brook. While the tax revenue from such sales is tempting, I don't believe that taxing marijuana, gaming, or other so called "sin" taxes are the appropriate way to try to plug budget holes. I believe our State should instead pursue structural reforms to improve its finances. With needed reforms at the State level, the financial imperatives imposed on our Village by the State will hopefully be addressed.

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

A. Oak Brook's economic engine is its business community, yet Oak Brook has no systems in place to broadly connect with its business residents to better understand and be responsive to their individual needs. With a plethora of software solutions to provide connectivity, we should be able to put in place systems that allow us to be "plugged into" our business (and residential) community. This in turn will enhance the success of our businesses and drive more tax revenue to the Village. Win-win!

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