Brian Brubaker: 2023 candidate for Round Lake Village Board
Bio
Town: Round Lake
Age on Election Day: 52
Occupation: Senior Systems Design Analyst
Employer: Swisslog Translogic
Previous offices held: Former Village Trustee 2005-2009
Q&A
Q: What is the most serious issue your community will face in the coming years and how should the city council or village board respond to it?
A: Economic Development/Revenue - Continued comprehensive plan reviews, aggressive attraction of business, transparency at the elected level, stability at the elected level.
Q: How would you describe the state of your community's finances?
A: It should be relatively stable. There will be upcoming challenges with the Cedar Lake Road realignment project but with forethought and leadership we can overcome those challenges.
Q: What should be the three top priorities for spending in your community during the next four years?
A: Economic growth, continuing infrastructure improvements, building and maintaining community involvement
Q: Are there areas of spending that need to be curtailed? If so, what are they?
A: Hard to say at this point. As a former trustee we ran a very tight and strong budget. I think that has continued over the years. We don't control our taxing percentage. It is determined by Lake County. I don't see any major finance moves to save money at the present time until I have access to the complete finance budget but primarily I believe it will lay on the shoulders of our department heads to run good budgets.
Q: What do you see as the most important infrastructure project the community 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 Cedar Lake Road realignment. Many moving parts. The project itself isn't funded with RL money but the impact of the realignment will force RL to support the current downtown and future expansion of the downtown as economically as possible. There are talks to relocate the current village hall to the tune of 10 million plus. This can be deep sixed in my opinion.
Q: Describe your experience working in a group setting to determine policy. What is your style in such a setting to reach agreement and manage local government? Explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions with your village board or city council.
A: From my previous tenure as Village Trustee my votes and work speak for themselves. RL is a Administrator run town governed by 6 voting trustees and 1 no voting mayor. I believe we put the right administrator and staff in place and let them run the town with the guidance and direction of the board of trustees. Policy and legislation needs to be majority. If you can't get 3 other trustees to believe in your plan then it may not be the right plan for the village. Transparency is a huge concern with our constituents. They feel they are left out of the process and it is difficult to communicate with the elected. This is true on some levels and not some much on others. I personally have never had a problem talking to any of the trustees if needed but someone new or not as engaged as I am may find this difficult to accomplish. I would like to bridge that gap by holding 'office hours' for trustees to meet with residents. Maybe a once a month for 2 hours, rotating trustees every month.
Q: What makes you the best candidate for the job?
A: I am passionate about RL. I have lived here for 25+ years. Have sat on several boards, elected once, engaged in the community. I understand costs, taxes, budgets and constraints of those. I work well with staff and leadership and in my professional life negotiate multi-million dollar contracts. As a former trustee I can recall on those 4 years of trials and tribulations and work on making the trials less and better outcomes. I believe strongly in community involvement. I am a proud resident of RL. I have simple and lofty goals and ideas for RL some of which will hopefully develop into great outcomes with the help of the other trustees and staff.
Q: What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?
A: Trustee (elected officials) posted Office hours or by appt. Stronger social media presence on multiple platforms. Transparency on anything that impacts the residents. Whether that be property, finance, quality of life, etc. The people deserve to have a open door policy to their elected. This has been lacking for a long time.