Eleanor Sweet McDonnell: 2023 Candidate for North Barrington Village President

Bio

Town: North Barrington

Age on Election Day: Not Applicable - Registered Voter

Occupation: Small-Medium B2B Business Advisor/Consultant-Small Business Owner

Employer: The Remington Group, LLC, President/CEO

Previous offices held: Village of North Barrington - President, April 2019 - Present (volunteer position); Village of North Barrington - Fire Commissioner; Village of North Barrington - Plan Commissioner Member; Lake Zurich Rural Fire Protection District - Trustee (Lake County Board Appointed)

Q&A

Q: What do you consider the primary responsibility of the community's "chairman of the board"?

A: The Village President is the Chief Executive Officer for the Village. As the President/CEO, I see my role as community leader, advocate for community needs, setting the vision and advancing policies and priorities of the residents for the Village. Part of my job is to constantly reach out to the residents, meet with them and listen to their views on how we can make our community better. Then taking the best ideas, which will serve the majority of the residents to the Board for consideration.

Q: What is the most serious issue your community will face in coming years and how should leaders respond to it?

A: Building a sustainable capital plan to ensure that the Village has sufficient financial resources to meet its capital needs in the future. At this time our first Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in 61 years, is financially supported fully only to year five. We need to find long term solutions to fund the CIP for the next generation of Village residents. I am committed to legacy building for the Village of North Barrington.

Q: How would you describe the state of your community's finances?

A: Strong and solid at this time. The Village is operating annually with a surplus in its operational budget. Each year the surplus is transferred to the Capital Improvement Fund for future capital needs. Prior to my being elected, the Village was operating with 7 years of deficit spending. We have maintained a balance budget since I have been in office, 2020, 2021 and 2022. In 2019 I promised the residents we would achieve a balanced budget. I am proud to say that we have been able to accomplish this.

Q: What should be the three top priorities for spending in your community during the next four years?

A: 1) Stormwater improvements to minimize flooding that is impacting public infrastructure and private properties. 2) Parks & Recreation improvements, and 3) Street rehabilitation.

Q: Are there areas of spending that need to be curtailed? If so, what are they?

A: Since taking office in 2019, we have done a good job of reducing operational costs. My mission has been for the Village to be better stewards of our fiduciary duty relative to the funds we manage. Example: Recently we completed a 3-Year contract renewal with the Lake County Sheriff's Office for police services. This will be implemented through a intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Village of Lake Barrington and Lake County. This assures a strong regional commitment to public safety. This contract is estimated to save our Village approximately $237,000 over the term of the contract. Another example, for the first time in 61 years we created and implemented our first structured internal public bid and RFP process, using best practice industry guidelines. This was used with our Snow Plow bid process in the Fall of 2019, resulting in approximately $90,000 in savings over a 3-Year period. This is just a sample of area's of savings the Village has realized during my 4 year term.

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 project(s) can be put on the back burner?

A: The Village is experiencing flooding that makes certain streets unpassable. The flooding is also causing private properties to be impacted. The storm sewer facilities that were designed to prevent the flooding have failed. In order to fix this problem we will need to use funding that will be a multi-jurisdiction effort and will be a combination of DCEO grant, Lake County, and local funds from cash reserves. We hope to start this process sometime in 2023.

Q: What makes you the best candidate for the job?

A: Village resident since 1987. 18 years Village volunteer. Since 1987 I have managed my own B2B business. Promised in 2019 I would: 1) Close the gap on the unbalanced budget. Delivered a balance budget every year I have been in office, 2020-2023. Implemented the FIRST Capital Improvement Plan to guide with future capital projects & infrastructure needs. 2) Re-negotiate the snowplow contract. Delivered FIRST formalized, public bid process. Snowplow contract was the 1st, resulted in $90,000 savings over the 3-year contract. 3) Promised to improve communication & transparency. Increased our email subscribers. Now our meetings can be attended in-person & via Zoom. Agendas & Board packets are available online. 4) Promised to work on stormwater. FIRST Village Culvert Inspection Report to help with issues. 2023 plan to launch the LARGEST stormwater project. I have the passion & energy to serve, a true champion for the residents & helping our community get stronger for the future generations

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

A: I would like to upgrade our Village website to continue to improve the communication to the residents. In April 2019 we had about 55 residents receiving our eblast newsletters. We now have 605 residents signed up to receive our Village eblasts. I have personally worked non-stop of this to help reach out to more residents with timely updates they need to be aware of. We send out a quarterly physical newsletter to every household. A better-informed community is a stronger community.

Engaging community members that have a genuine sense of serving their village, to get actively involved in volunteering. During COVID we gained a number of new residents. I now see some of these residents wanting to get involved. Greater solid resident engagement, will create a stronger more sustainable community going forward.