Chamber Forum Highlights Differences in Choices for Village President, Trustees

Less than an hour was all it took for residents to get their first official look at the candidates for Thursday night.

The held its candidate forum in a packed Village Board chambers in . Each candidate was given a one-minute to use as an opening statement and then each was brought into the room individually after being sequestered to answer the same three questions. Each response was also limited to one minute. 

In order to represent comments from each candidate, Patch is presenting each question and portion of each response in the order names were drawn. The night started with the candidates for Village President.

What is the single best and single worst decision the Village Board made in the last year?

Philip Smith: "The best decision the board has made in the entire year is not going along with the KenCom intergovernmental agreement. Even if it goes to litigation I believe the board standing firm by the agreement that was made in 2007 was the right choice. ... The single worst decision the board has made is passing the sales tax increase. All they're doing is covering up for wasteful spending."

Brian LeClercq: "I believe the single best decision the board has made was to vote for our affordable senior housing that's going to be built across the river. ... (As for the worst decision) I think it was a good decision, it's unfortunately a bad decision because it might lead to possible litigation, but it was a decision that had to be made about Oswego being charged with additional taxes for KenCom.

Judy Sollinger: "The Village Board has made some poor decisions about not welcoming businesses to Oswego. They've made the process very difficult, and I think we need to streamline the process."

Why do you think people open businesses in Oswego?

Smith: "Businesses downtown are vital to our economy; if there is anyway to get more people downtown, that would be wonderful. I think we can partner with the school district and the park district to create cost-effective events in the downtown area."

LeClercq: "They obviously find ... a great environment. There's a great population here and we have the per capita income and the means. We have some great opportunities for people that do invest here, and I'm hopeful they'll continue to invest here, as well."

Sollinger: "Oswego is a great place to have a business and to live. I think we need to encourage people opening businesses in Oswego and support them once they're here."

What, if any, incentives would you favor offering businesses wishing to locate or expand in Oswego?

Smith: "I favor no incentives for businesses wishing to locate in Oswego. ... I don't believe in giving tax incentives to businesses to locate downtown. There's no reason for it, and it creates a slippery slope. Once we offer it to one business, don't we have to offer it to every business?"

LeClercq: "I do look for some opportunities to attract industrial or manufacturing development, and I do think we need to look for the best possible way to attract the business owners whether it's through enterprise zones or recovery bonds or something like that."

Sollinger: "I'm not really in favor of incentives, but I think there are many opportunities for offering things to businesses to come to Oswego. That could be a tax increment finance district where it is not an incentive and it's the village's responsibility to take care of some of the infrastructure improvements."

What characteristics do you have that sets you apart from other candidates?

Scott Gryder: "I've had some experience with local bodies, so I can jump into the seat and have a good idea of what's going on and what we can do for the village."

David Richardson: "I have the capabilities of running a successful small business that will lead to fiscal responsibility in this village, which is what we need. This is why you're all here and this is what will be voted on."

Gail Johnson: "I find that I'm a strong experience leader. I tend to fill that spot with everything I get involved in. ... That would be the biggest strength that I bring."

Karl Baumrucker: "I was educated as a history and political science teacher. I went into the business world ... and was even a corporate vice president. ... I think that gives me an advantage at No. 1 knowing about the political seen and No. 2 about running a business."

Amanda Mancke: "As a teacher I have developed many characteristics to help me work together with people. Being a teacher is a constant negotiation between 30 different personalities ... As I a teacher I've learned so many skills to be able to communicate with people."

Tony Giles: "I am invested in my community with my job and my volunteer activities. ... In a variety of different ways I'm invested in the community. ... I also get to see the community from a variety of different ways. ... I get to see how the community is affected by the decisions that we make at the board level."

What one specific thing would you do to make Oswego a better place to live and work?

Gryder: You hear the term business-friendly quite a bit ... what does that mean exactly? ... In my mind it's more that a platitude. It means keeping taxes low, cutting the red tape, streamlining the process and bringing in things like Metra which will enhance the downtown."

Richardson: "You know what this village needs? We need to take that building at the old Village Hall and take that corner and make a three-story cultural arts center ... That area would be so visible. ... These are the types of ideas that are vital to make the village succeed."

Johnson: "The one thing I am passionate about is having a vision for our town. A vision is more than just the comprehensive plan that lays out what businesses go where. A vision is a picture of what we want to be when we grow up. ... As leaders that vision is so important because as we look down the road we make decisions based on that vision."

Baumrucker: "I would like to hire, and yes I know it's another mouth to feed, a full-time person to write grants. It can be found money. ... I know people have done this in school districts and come up with thousands and thousands of dollars."

Mancke: "The most important thing to me is to provide more economic development for this town. We need a wider tax base. We need more jobs. We need more higher paying jobs. We need jobs that provide a living wage."

Giles: "One element that I think is missing from Oswego is one more piece to its downtown plan. What I would like to see in downtown is that we have a couple of lots downtown where we need to put some sort of arts and entertainment facility down there. ... We need this element that makes Oswego a destination place."

Realizing the state of Illinois' precarious finances, what programs would you cut if state funding doesn't come to Oswego at the anticipated levels?

Gryder: "You have to look at the overall budget and make that decision if the revenue stream is not there. ... I'm optimistic that we're starting to come out of the recession. ... We're not there yet ... when we increase business we'll increase the tax base and I'll think we'll have a better idea of where we're at."

Richardson: "There are a lot of programs in the village to cut. That is not for me alone to decide. That is for the village to decide. That is why we have open meetings and forums."

Johnson: "We don't have a lot of programs that serve social needs ... so we need to look at things like roads and the safety of people. We have already cut many of our staff positions over the last couple of years. My fear is that chronic understaffing will absolutely affect services if it continues. ... I would not look at cutting services; I would look at ways to grow revenues."

Baumrucker: "Rather than cut programs I'd like to find ways to fund them—not through tax increases or anything like that, but cutting never solves anything. I do believe there are other ways to find dollars and cents to fund these programs."

Mancke: "I do not know at this point, but I do have a lot of resources at my fingertips. I've developed a large network of people that I can go to when I have these questions. I don't have the answer to every single problem."

Giles: "We've made cuts in the past and we'll continue to do so, but we'll also look for creative revenue streams and that way Oswego can stay ahead of the curve."

Editor's note: Incumbent trustee candidates Terry Michels and David Schlaker did not attend the forum.