Roger L. Byrne: 2021 candidate for Vernon Hills village president
Two candidates are running in the April 6 election for the four-year term of Vernon Hills village president.
Bio
City: Vernon Hills
Age: 71
Occupation: Insurance Agent
Employer: Crissie Insurance
Education: B/A
Civic Involvement: Mayor of Vernon Hills
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: To be an effective leader, we believe it is important to balance all of these roles — whether now during the Pandemic or under more “normal” scenarios. Collaboration, communication and partnership has been key in keeping the community of Vernon Hills moving forward. We have joined with all Village leaders in purposefully reaching out to understand the impacts and needs of not only residents and local businesses, but also our partner organizations and the wider region. All voices and experiences are important and valuable to maintaining a healthy community. While we may not always agree on each decision, our community has always tended to rise up to support the greater good. Rather than push back on decisions made at a higher level, we looked at ways to support businesses impacted by mandated shut downs. Examples include supporting restaurants in setting up and equipping outdoor dining venues, raising awareness through social media to help drive business, and eliminating license fees and local food and beverage taxes for qualifying businesses.
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 am proud of the way the Village works with local partners including the Lake County Health Department, first responders, schools, the park district and other stakeholders to ensure we were all effectively supporting public health while maintaining services. Working together, we adjusted processes to support the health of staff, residents and the wider community. While residents may have noticed social distancing reminders, mask requirements, temperature checks, and hand sanitizing stations, residents did not experience any disruption in core services.
Working together, we not only continued our missions in new ways, but we also added service to ensure residents and businesses were supported. Examples include connecting residents with support services such as Lake County 211, senior citizen well-being checks, facilitating collection and distribution of necessary supplies, and checking in with residents and business owners to learn how we could be of assistance during this unprecedented time. One program that has arisen out of the isolation of the pandemic is our Senior Outreach Initiative, launched in partnership with Charter Senior Living, Victory Centre and Meridian Health Care. Through this new program we hope to not only connect with our valued Seniors virtually, but begin providing safe, healthy activities to encourage mental and physical well-being.
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: First, it is important to remember that our country has not faced a health crisis similar to the COVID Pandemic in over 100 years, and hopefully, we will never face another crisis of this magnitude in the future. From the beginning of the pandemic, the Village of Vernon Hills joined with other public entities in implementing a variety of new processes to safeguard residents, businesses and employees while maintaining the quality of service our residents have come to expect. We will continue to follow public health mandates, and we expect to continue to incorporate some of the most simple changes into our day-to-day processes — for instance, maintaining social distance where and when practical, continuing increased cleaning protocols, and supplying hand sanitizer stations within municipal buildings. These simple changes may become our new norm. We have also been moving many of our processes online for an efficient, contactless interface with our residents and businesses. An example of that is the new web-based residential permit process, which allows residents to efficiently request and manage a variety of licenses and typical permits from the comfort of their home.
Q: What cuts can local government make to reduce the burden of the pandemic on taxpayers?
A: The Village of Vernon Hills has always worked to reduce all burdens on our residents — in fact, the Village has never collected a property tax, which has been a tremendous support to residents since the Village was formed. In addition, because the Village of Vernon Hills has always operated in a very fiscally conservative fashion, we were now able to provide specific support to local restaurants hardest hit by the pandemic. The Village Board agreed to eliminating fees for business licenses, food and beverage licenses, and outdoor dining permits for those that meet criteria designed to focus support on our smaller “mom and pop” restaurants. The Village is also allowing qualifying businesses to keep the 1 percent of Village food and beverage tax. Through careful planning, including implementing a new Pandemic Financial Model that adjusts and differs expenses as appropriate, the Village has been able to maintain services without creating any additional burden on our residents, businesses and local partners.
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: A key infrastructure project for the Village is creating an additional water storage facility. Currently, Village water reserves are limited to approximately 24 hours of typical use. In the past eighteen months, the village has experienced two complete water shutdowns. The Village has been working with Lake County, the Vernon Hills Park District, the Village of Mundelein and our residents to secure a suitable location just north of the Century Park maintenance facility. This abandoned Mundelein Water Reclamation Facility site within the Vernon Hills borders is located away from residences and park spaces. With input from all stakeholders, the County was able to purchase this property to begin construction of a 2 million gallon water storage facility. As part of this collaborative effort, the Village intends to support the County by waiving permit fees, which is expected to lower the cost of the project by approximately $100,000.
The only major infrastructure project on hold is the improvement of the Lakeview Parkway/Route 60/Hawthorn Parkway corridor. While the Village had set aside our portion of the funds for this major regional transportation project, economic pressures forced the State to push this project back until 2023.
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 charge about that stance, if you could?
A: The Village Board took our lead from the community in deciding to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana sales. Prior to the Pandemic, the Village requested stakeholder input, and held a large public hearing, which was moved to Vernon Hills High School in order to accommodate a large crowd of interested participants. Through the Public Hearing as well as through comments provided in petitions, emails, village board meetings, phone calls and direct contact with elected officials and staff, nearly 500 individual statements were collected. Of those comments, the vast majority asked that recreational sales not be allowed in the Village. In fact, only four individuals provided formal comment in support of recreational sales. The Board followed that majority in making our decision to opt out. If and when the community is interested in revisiting this or any topic, the Village Board will be open to (and obligated to) revisit this discussion and again ask for input from all viewpoints. Note, also, that this decision in no way impacts an individual's right to possess or use recreational marijuana as outlined by State statute. It only opts the Village out of allowing businesses offering recreational marijuana sales from locating within Vernon Hills at this time.
Q: What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?
A: One of the strengths of the Village of Vernon Hills is that when people have ideas, they are generous in sharing them. During Village Board Meetings, we discuss ideas and suggestions from among our ranks, as well as those suggested by residents. If I, or anyone has ideas, it is our goal that people feel comfortable and empowered to share them through participation in meetings, as well as through emails, phone calls and conversations with myself, Trustees and Village staff. When it comes to ideas, we do our best to be inclusive, responsive and transparent so that we can all talk about options and ideas that benefit our community.
Q: What makes you the best candidate for the job?
A: My experience is my key strength. Even after 34 years in public service, I continue to learn about new ways and new resources to best serve Vernon Hills. I draw heavily on my experience in business as an insurance agent, and the many partnerships we have forged within the Village and beyond our borders, to help us continuously improve as a community. I am truly passionate about Vernon Hills and the wider community. It is my honor to serve.