2013 Election Profile: Ken Duda

Address:  500 block of Parkview Court, Oswego

Campaign contact information: E-mail: Kdude2080@yahoo.com, phone: 630-554-2320

Family: Daughter:32 years old, Son: Joseph 24 years old

Education: St. Patrick High School of Chicago in 1973, attended College of Du Page for one year.

Occupation: Retired from Bensenville Fire Protection District where I served as firefighter/EMT for 20 + years, served on the executive board of our firefighter local for 16 years, currently serving my second term as chairperson of the Oswego Fire Protection District Fire Commission

Why are you seeking office?

My goal is to strive for common sense and accountability in village government for both the board and village staff. I think when difficult decisions are made, meaningful discussion should have ensued and it becomes apparent why that decision was made. I realize you cannot please everyone but if you do what you believe is right for the majority then you are doing the right thing.

What set you apart from other candidates?

What sets me apart from other candidates is that as a 20-year resident I have seen Oswego grow from a town of 3000 residents to over 30,000 and my willingness to have an open mind when making decisions. I think the purpose of the board of trustees is to come to a consensus on issues through thoughtful discussion. As president of the firefighter locali, I fought hard to achieve that goal.

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?

My single most important priority will be to pursue all avenues of revenue available to the village, which includes economic development as well as other revenue streams no matter how small they may seem.

What do you consider to be the main issues facing the Village of Oswego today?

I consider the economic downturn a major hurdle for our village to deal with and we need perhaps to start thinking out of the box. I also think that as Kendall Counties oldest town, our downtown district is an important part of our history and should be allowed to prosper and be something to be proud of. 

Going forward, what can the Village do to help improve the state of current businesses and work to attract new ones? How responsible should the Village be in regards to helping new businesses get off the ground, so to speak?

I think going forward a consideration should be made that our current method of economic development is not performing as well as when we had an economic development corporation consisting of all the interested parties and revisiting that might be something to consider. I think it's important that the village look at new and old businesses on a case by case basis when it comes to any type of help. When warranted we should not be opposed to considering certain incentives. 

The Village levied the same dollar amount in the 2012 tax levy as they did in 2011, resulting in a very low increase for Oswego homeowners. Yet homeowners say they are still being taxed too high: what suggestions do you have to help ease taxpayer burden on Oswego homeowners?

If we can revive economic development and pursue all available revenue streams that would help in regard to our tax burden however, if one really looks at the services provided by the village I think the village portion of our tax bill is somewhat of a bargain.