Meet the Candidate: Andrew Stein

This is the fourth in a series of profiles of the five candidates for the three trustee positions on the Buffalo Grove Village Board. All candidates were sent the same questions. The answers are exactly as they were submitted. Profiles are being presented in alphabetical order.  Candidate Mike Terson’s profile will be posted tomorrow.

Candidate's name

Andrew Stein

How long have you lived in Buffalo Grove?

We have lived in our home for 33 years, 17 of which have been in Buffalo Grove. Our home was annexed into Buffalo Grove in 2004.

Please provide brief biographical information.

My wife and I moved into our home in 1987 Our home was annexed into Buffalo Grove in 2004. My wife is a substitute teacher in School District 102 and I am a Compliance Principal in the Securities Industry. I earned a BA in Speech and Communications from Northeastern Illinois University and a JD from the Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago Kent College of Law. We have two children in college. I was elected Village Trustee in 2011 and have been re-elected twice. Before becoming a Village Trustee, I served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for six years. More detailed information is included in question number 5.

Are you affiliated with any political party? If so, to what extent are you being supported by that party?

I am running as an Independent Candidate.

What civic activities, if any, have you been involved with?

I am currently a Buffalo Grove Village Trustee and serve as Trustee Liaison to the Police and Fire Commission and Buffalo Grove Days Committee. I have previously served as Trustee Liaison to the Commission for Residents with Disabilities, Farmers Market, Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Health.

I have served as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Appearance Review Team, Committee Member to re-write the Sign Code, Chairman of the Citizens Ad Hoc Committee for Off Track Betting, Volunteer for Buddy Baseball, have played in the Buffalo Grove Days Charity Softball Game, graduated from the Citizens Police Academy and participated in Fire Opps 101.

I am a member of and former Executive Board member of the Link Together Drug Coalition, keeping dangerous drugs and alcohol away from children.

I am a Merit Badge Counsellor for Scouts BSA and have served as a Unit Commissioner. I was the award winning Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 36, Special Events Volunteer for the Wheeling Park District (The Wheeling Park District covers about 700 households in Buffalo Grove, mine included) and a friend of the Vernon Township Food Pantry, collecting food, money and overall raising awareness for those in need.

Why are you running for the Village Board?

I am running for Village Trustee because I want to keep making Buffalo Grove better. I was first elected Village Trustee in 2011. I supported business development as a way of saving our residents money on taxes. I proposed Bringing Woodman’s to Buffalo Grove during that election. I contended that this would spur business development of the Milwaukee Avenue Corridor, bringing more sales tax to Buffalo Grove, and it has. In 2011, there were no sales tax generating businesses in Buffalo Grove at the Milwaukee and Deerfield corners. Now that area has retail, restaurant and services generating millions of dollars in sales tax revenue. It took great efforts by both village staff and elected officials. I supported the development of plans for the Lake Cook Road Corridor, Prairie View and Dundee Road. We are having success, as Lake Cook Road is already seeing a transformation. The Town Center is in the process of re-development and several vacant properties on Dundee Road have plans in the works. There is even more potential for Milwaukee Avenue in the not-too-distant future. I want to be re-elected as Village Trustee to see these plans to fruition. I want to keep Buffalo Grove one of the highest rated suburbs in Illinois and in the United States.

Have you served on a village committee or commission before? If yes, which one and how long did you serve and in what capacity?

Before I was elected Trustee, I served as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals for six years, a member of the Appearance Review Team for four years, Committee Member to re-write the Sign Code and Chairman of the Citizens Ad Hoc Committee for Off Track Betting for four years.

How well do you think the Village has responded to the pandemic? Please explain your answer.

I am very pleased with Buffalo Grove’s response to controlling the pandemic. I proposed a face covering requirement ahead of the requirement by the Governor, and our Village Board adopted my suggestion. We built a special service window to provide residents with a way to transact business with the Village without the need to enter the building. We encouraged staff to work from home, whenever possible. We sourced alternate supplies of PPE for our employees and for our residents. We partnered with Vernon Township Officials to distribute face masks to our residents. We enacted ordinances designed to slow the spread of Covid-19 and were a community that had one of the lowest infection rates. We followed the science and limited and restricted operations of businesses to protect our residents. The fact is that this disease is transmitted days before symptoms appear. There are too many people that are vulnerable. We need to protect them until this disease can be controlled or eradicated.

What ideas to you have to support businesses in Buffalo Grove that are suffering because of the pandemic?

With the aid of Village Staff, we examined the cost of providing a meaningful level of support to businesses in Buffalo Grove. It would be great if we could provide the money necessary to guarantee that every business in the Village could weather the storm and emerge healthy. The truth is that the Village does not have enough money to do so and we cannot raise taxes on our residents to fund this. However, we did reduce the fees for video gaming and liquor licenses. Financial assistance can best come from the Federal Government and the State. We need to be creative with what we have. I support using Village resources to market businesses in Buffalo Grove. To create a database that is available for all to access on the VBG.org website. The Village has created a site, BG Delivers, which is set to launch on March 17. This will link all businesses in Buffalo Grove so that residents and non-residents can access and learn more about businesses in Buffalo Grove. Businesses can use this site to create messages about themselves as well. We will be promoting this in Enews, the Village website and social media. We will be sending staff out to businesses to see what assistance we can give. We will help all businesses as best as we can.

Which business development plan do you think should be a priority? Lake-Cook Road corridor, Dundee Road, Milwaukee Avenue or the Prairie View concept? Please explain your priorities.

The Lake Cook Road corridor and Dundee Road plans present Buffalo Grove with the opportunity for greatest impact now and need to be top priorities. Each of these is centrally located in Buffalo Grove. There is already movement at the east end of Lake Cook Road, where the BMO Property was. There is development of the NCH property and not just the hospital building. A developer is working on re-developing Town Center and talks are continuing on Chase Plaza. The Purdue University Foundation properties, formerly the Rohrman properties, located on Dundee and Cambridge Commons are also ripe for development. These sites will provide substantial sales tax revenue opportunities. I am willing to explore tax incentives, based upon sharing, with each, in order to support their development. The Milwaukee Avenue corridor began redevelopment with the recruitment of Woodman’s. Businesses wish to be close to successful businesses. This has proven the case here. There are nearly two dozen businesses where there were none just a few years ago. This has generated millions of dollars in tax revenue. There is still plenty of space available as you go north of Deerfield Road. I am willing to explore incentives and other creative ways of financing to further develop this area, including the old landfill in Buffalo Grove. Prairie View will take the greatest challenge, as not all the area is in Buffalo Grove. There needs to be annexation agreements to make this plan happen. I would rather focus on areas that are ready now. I would not give up on Prairie View, I would just make that a lower priority.

Do you think the village should continue using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to entice economic development?

The question of TIF districts is complicated. While they provide a quick method of financing projects, where appropriate, they also pose a dilemma for other taxing bodies that rely on the increments to operate. Buffalo Grove has stood without utilizing TIF districts while neighboring communities have used them to finance projects that have left Buffalo Grove in their shadow. Used responsibly, TIF districts can help in the long term. Buffalo Grove has been transparent in the process to establish a TIF district, including all taxing bodies in the discussions. The TIF district has become integral in the development process and I will support using them in the future to entice economic development.

How do you think the village should encourage redevelopment of existing retail areas that are struggling?

There are several retail areas that are struggling. Without naming them, I believe that they are struggling due to short-sighted ownership. I would like to see the Village offer incentives, using tax sharing to re-develop those areas. The Village needs to market the areas to groups that are willing to come in with fresh ideas. I am not precluding current ownership from participating, but I do want to see active participation. I am not in favor of giving things away. I want programs that reward for doing well.

Some of our volunteer groups (commissions, committees) have seen shrinking membership. What would you do to engage the community on a broader scale? Do you think the “Engage BG” initiative is an effective program to get residents involved? What would you do to encourage broader demographic participation?

Engage BG is a nice start to encourage participation in committees and commissions. It is too soon to determine its effectiveness. I was thinking that we could offer a gift card to a local Buffalo Grove business as an incentive to current volunteers for recruiting new volunteers who remain active for the period of a year. I would like to see the Village continue its current process but reach out more to individual portions of the community as well. The Village could set up tables at different functions, like school open houses, fairs and the farmers market to tell people about opportunities for volunteering in the Village.

Do you think the Village communicates well with residents? If not, how can it be improved?

The Village communicates better now than it used to but can still do better. Reverse 911 provides emergency communications. We have Enews, Facebook, the Village website and Village meetings are live on Facebook. This gives residents the opportunity to interact while the meeting is going on. In spite of this, there are still people who are not reached. Sometimes, the communication has links that are either incorrect or don’t work. We need to address those issues and find better ways to make certain that our residents are getting the information that they need. This is an example of something that we can address by inviting our best qualified residents to help out.

Meet the Candidate: Les Ottenheimer

This is the third in a series of profiles of the five candidates for the three trustee positions on the Buffalo Grove Village Board. All candidates were sent the same questions. The answers are exactly as they were submitted. Profiles are being presented in alphabetical order.  Candidate Andrew Stein’s profile will be posted tomorrow.

Candidate's name

Les Ottenheimer

How long have you lived in Buffalo Grove?

I have lived in Buffalo Grove for 35 years.

Please provide brief biographical information

Graduated Munster Indiana High School

Graduated Indiana University with BS in Public and Environmental Affairs

Graduated Indiana University School of Law JD

Practicing attorney and principal of Ottenheimer Law Group, LLC located in Buffalo Grove

Married—3 grown children

Are you affiliated with any political party?  If so, to what extent are you being supported by that party?

Buffalo Grove municipal elections are nonpartisan and as such I am running as an independent.

What civic activities, if any, have you been involved with?

I served as a Board Member and ultimately the President of the United Way of Wheeling-Buffalo Grove (prior to its merger).

Why are you running for the Village Board?

It has been an honor to serve you as your Village Trustee. I have seen our community grow from a sleepy village to a large Chicago suburb. I am running to represent you because I want to make sure I finished what I started. Municipal Governments impact our constituents for a more frequently and more positively than either State of Federal governments, and secondly our residents can have far more influence at the local level that they ever will and the state and federal level Residents also have more influence over local government. Municipal governments are closest to our constituents. You may me see meeting at local restaurant or shopping in local stores.

They’d see local leaders out in the community and they talk to us. They can directly reach out to express their problems frustrations and positives with the village During my tenure in office I have focused on three areas: Economic Development—Fiscal Responsibility and Transparency Economic Development: The goal of economic development is to enhance the quality of life for the residents of Buffalo Grove.

To accomplish this a process should be developed and implemented that has many facets—including developing goals or objectives for economic growth and developing a plan to create new economic opportunities by attracting creating retaining and expanding jobs and enhancing income and revenue for our community Buffalo Grove recognizes and understands these issues because during my tenure as village trustee the village has developed and implemented a plan to bring jobs and increased income to our village with the goal of improving the standard of living and the quality of life to residents of Buffalo Grove Economic Development: We now have a plan to build a real downtown along the Lake Cook Corridor Woodmans and the Shoppes of buffalo grove —a new retail development which has brought, in addition to Woodmans 7-9 new businesses and 1.5 million in tax revenues to the Village. (43,000 square feet of retail). Redevelopment of Town Center—plans to redevelop the entire town center are evolving Rebuild the Dundee Road Corridor business district—Business have left this part of the community and there are now 2-3 businesses interested in the vacant car dealership lots Infrastructure.

The village has implemented the largest Infrastructure Modernization Capital Improvement project in t village history—175 million. AT NO COST TO TAXPAYERS Business retention program—have significantly increased the industrial tax base by bringing in approximately 3 million in tax revenues —Connexion, Hines, Thermflow Business IT Source. Fiscal Responsibility. Fiscal responsibility is essential to creating a better, stronger, more prosperous Village for now and the next generation. Facing fiscal challenges all help put the village on a path to lasting prosperity and a rise in the standard of living During my tenure as trustee: Reduce property taxes— We were able to freeze the Village portion of property taxes this year and will continue to do so Balanced Budget. Every term since I have been trustee Maintain adequate reserves—especially now with covid—no drop in core services or any increase in taxes—despite pandemic AAA bond Rating Awards for Budgeting and Municipal Finance Programs to help struggling business Outsourcing village services to save money BG Delivers; A new website which is about to be launched which connects all business and residents.

TRANSPARENCY Public officials should ever be mindful of the fact that the money they have to spend on their communities comes directly from their citizens through tax dollars Residents have a right to know how their local officials intend To use their funds The more Buffalo Grove can provide in the way of transparency the more it increases trust honesty and integrity in government The benefit of providing as much information to the public as possible is that it gives them an opportunity to think about decisions the board has made and provided valuable feedback to them.

Accomplishments: Creation of a Citizens Engagement committee Institution of E news— Development of a Resident academy All board meetings are televised/ live streaming New and improved village website. Easier to navigate and many useful links Open door policy.

Have you served on a village committee or commission before? If yes, which one and how long did you serve and in what capacity?

I first became active in Buffalo Grove when I submitted my talent bank application and was selected to serve on the Buffalo Grove Days Committee which I did for 2 years. When an opening became available on the Plan Commission (now known as the Planning and Zoning Commission) I was selected and served on the commission for 15 years, 10 of which I served as it’s chair.

How well do you think the Village has responded to the pandemic? Please explain your answer

The Village responded swiftly and decisively when the Pandemic hit. Village staff mobilized immediately and started ordering hand sanitizer other PPP equipment for the front-line workers and first responder (fire and police). The Village staff, in conjunction with the trustees quickly looked at the 2021 budget to make estimates on losses of revenues and spent weeks readjusting and realigning the budget and setting new priorities. Due to the fact that the Village is fiscally strong, with very adequate reserves, there were no cuts in any core services to residents—fire, police, snow plowing garbage and the like.

What ideas to you have to support businesses in Buffalo Grove that are suffering because of the pandemic?

Businesses have suffered greatly in Buffalo Grove. It is vital to keep our businesses alive and thriving because they provide employment, tax revenue and options for residents. There is a balance which must be struck between helping businesses and maintaining the village’s strong fiscal policy. The village has helped in a small way by reducing liquor license fees and video gaming license fees. The Village has implemented and is about to launch B G Delivers, a web site linking businesses and residents whereby the businesses can promote themselves and the residents will have easy access to all the business in Buffalo Grove.

Which business development plan do you think should be a priority? Lake-Cook Road corridor, Dundee Road, Milwaukee Avenue or the Prairie View concept? Please explain your priorities

The Lake Cook Road Corridor would be the Village's top priority. I view that as the "gateway" to Buffalo Grove. The Village commissioned very in depth study with much public involvement and the plan got very positive reviews--even from the residents and because of the resident's suggestions. The Dundee Road corridor is close to being resolved with new businesses locating on the former car dealership lots and Milwaukee avenue corridor off to a great start. The Village needs to listen to and take the advice of experts to attract the right type of businesses in addition, I have learned that it is the market which drives what businesses come to the Village. Lastly, history has shown that business attracts business--so the more business the Village brings in, the more businesses will follow.

Do you think the village should continue using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to entice economic development?

If done properly an administered appropriately, TIF districts can be very effective. TIFs are based on the diversion of the tax revenue increases, but over time, the redevelopment is expected to result in a more robust tax base for the Village. The tax gains are due to increased value in the property around a development in addition to the potential for job growth and sales tax revenue. TIFs can be instrumental in revitalizing declining areas and help spur new development in areas. Because of the TIF, Buffalo Grove will have an incentive for businesses to locate to Buffalo Grove. The purpose of the current TIF is to spur development along the Lake Cook Road Corridor.

How do you think the village should encourage redevelopment of existing retail areas that are struggling?

With the explosion of businesses in the village —Woodmans and the Shoppes of Buffalo Grove (44,000 square feet of retail) more retail will be attracted to the Village. Business attacks business. And due to the Village’s massive ($175 million) Infrastructure Modernization Capital Project Improvement Project, the new infrastructure will also attract new business. In addition, some of these strip malls are outdated and the village needs to provide incentives to developers to redevelop their properties —including mixed use development. The village must respect the market realities and balance flexibility with long term vision. It is also important to obtain public input such as holding planning meetings with the residents whose input can be very valuable. Further, the market will dictate what comes to the Village. The Village just needs to be on the lookout for possible new businesses, as well as continuing its ongoing efforts to generate new businesses.

Some of our volunteer groups (commissions, committees) have seen shrinking membership. What would you do to engage the community on a broader scale? Do you think the “Engage BG” initiative is an effective program to get residents involved? What would you do to encourage broader demographic participation?

The Village does have a difficult time attacking residents to volunteer their time to the village. As such the creation of the Citizens Engagement Committee was formed. While in its infant stages, if successful more residents will become involved. The Village is becoming more and more diverse and as such the village needs to reach out to each and every demographic and community. The Village needs to provide more social media other than its web site and ED-News. There would be an all-out push by the village to get all involved. Communication is key.

Do you think the Village communicates well with residents? If not, how can it be improved?

When it comes to Village communications with the residents, it is a mixed bag. Some residents applaud how well the Village is doing with its new web site and e-news. Others feel there is not enough information and the information which is delivered needs should be clearer. If re-elected, I will ensure the Village has the most efficient and accurate communication with the residents. I would have at least 2 sets of eyes review all communications before they are released. The renewed website should also be a huge help.

Meet the candidate: Gowri Magati

 This is the second in a series of profiles of the five candidates for the three trustee positions on the Buffalo Grove Village Board. All candidates were sent the same questions. The answers are exactly as they were submitted. Profiles are being presented in alphabetical order. Candidate Les Ottenheimer’s profile will be posted tomorrow.

 

Candidate's name

Gowri Magati

How long have you lived in Buffalo Grove?

16 years

Please provide brief biographical information.

I have lived in Buffalo Grove for the last 16 years with my family and my two boys. My family enjoyed every aspect of Buffalo Grove facilities including schools, parks, baseball fields and finally basketball facilities. My kids extensively used BGRA facilities throughout their childhood. Even though, my kids graduated out of Stevenson, my family decided to continue to live in Buffalo Grove because we love this place.

In regards to my professional career, I am an IT consultant. I have worked for Fortune 500 companies like Walgreens and Johnson Controls and helped solve complex problems using project management skills, vendor negotiating, evaluating processes and delivering projects on time on budget. As a trustee, I would bring my project management experience to board to solve our community critical issues effectively.

Are you affiliated with any political party? If so, to what extent are you being supported by that party?

I am running as an Independant.

What civic activities, if any, have you been involved with?

One of my core strengths is building community engagements and connecting with people. I have developed, organized several cultural programs. Conducted several College prep programs to high school students to prepare for ACT and SAT. Actively engaged in religious and temple charity events. Organized multiple events to encourage the traditions in young children. I also am involved in local elections to better our community.

Why are you running for the Village Board?

We need Fresh New ideas with efficient, effective and influential leaders to implement them. I am that Type of leader. I will bring my project management skills to the table to solve our problems on time and on budget.

The village board has been well meaning in trying to bring downtown to our town center. But for the last 16 years that I have lived here in BG, we have been involved in planning and assessing the downtown but no definitive action has been taken. While we have been arguing about where the site would go and what form it should take, Venom hills, Wheeling and Deer park have actually completed developments.

It is time to get this done and we need to build our downtown and bring smart business development in our community. With the changes in the marketplace, the standard retail based development will not work. We need to build an entertainment focused development similar to the Rosemont has. This will attract young families and professionals to spend money and contribute to our tax base without burdening our citizens.

In addition to building a downtown, we would need to deal with the tremendous amount of vacancies that the village has on Dundee Rd and Chase Plaza and keep our current businesses thriving by providing necessary incentives to them and reducing the excessive regulations that are inflicted upon. VBG’s red-tape is hurting both businesses and residents and needs to be addressed ASAP. Even our citizens are burdened by the excessive regulations. A family was fined, required to pay permits and even had to pay for traffic control for simply putting a holidays display. Finally, we need to help our residents to commute to work with congestion free roads by smart road development.

Have you served on a village committee or commission before? If yes, which one and how long did you serve and in what capacity?

I did not have an opportunity to provide my services in any of the commissions or committees. But, you don’t have to be in any committee or commission to run for the board. In fact, an outside perspective is needed. I have a real-world experience helping my community and fortune 500 companies like Johnson Controls and Walgreens in solving their complex problems. I have used my skill set of negotiating with vendors, evaluating the processes, managing and delivering the projects on budget and on time. I will certainly use all that extensive experience to solve our community’s essential and critical issues.

How well do you think the Village has responded to the pandemic? Please explain your answer.

The village enforced CDC regulations well. However, they could have done a better job in communicating COVID information in the beginning of pandemic. The village should have been more proactive in sourcing and distributing protective gear when there was none in the market rather than waiting till late spring. It is also concerning that so many of our small businesses have closed their doors during this pandemic. I believe it is the responsibility of the village to work harder to keep these businesses open. They should have worked closer with business owners to help them obtain federal loans and grants. The village could have also helped communicate curbside services to us all. It is not too late for our village to engage more.

What ideas do you have to support businesses in Buffalo Grove that are suffering because of the pandemic?

We need to keep our business that we currently have. During the last few years so many of our existing businesses have left us. As I mentioned earlier, I believe it is the responsibility of the village to work harder to keep these businesses open. There are three reasons why businesses are leaving our village and moving to other cities. 1) Higher rental rates 2) Less financial incentives offered by a community and last but not least 3) the burden of higher regulations and government red tape. In fact, contractors often complain that our village is impossible to work in and many refuse to even do so. We need to work on the following things.

a)    The Village should work hard with business owners to help them obtain federal loans and grants.

b)    Until we get to a point in controlling the pandemic, we must promote and communicate the curbside services provided by these businesses to all the residents to improve their revenues.

c)    Finally, we must reduce the regulations on the businesses to allow them to stand up on their own legs.

Which business development plan do you think should be a priority? Lake-Cook Road corridor, Dundee Road, Milwaukee Avenue or the Prairie View concept? Please explain your priorities.

I have lived in Buffalo Grove over 16 years and the issue of building a downtown has always been talked about but never implemented. We have lost many businesses along Lake Cook and Dundee corridor because of delays in economic development plans, while the communities around us have grown. Because of these delays our property taxes continued to grow forcing many of my neighbors to leave our community.

a)    First, we need to complete building our Lake Cook Corridor project which we started planning a long time ago. This project will bring back businesses to our community. This development can not be built on the Golf course. Building on a flood plain is simply unfeasible.

b)    Second, We need to revitalize Dundee corridor and Chase plaza by providing and attracting the business with needed help.

c)    We need to follow through on the Prairie View plan.

Do you think the village should continue using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to entice economic development?

Yes. I do support TIF. But just making a TIF district is not enough to attract new businesses. We have to deal with over regulation. Otherwise businesses are not going to come. In addition, we need to provide incentives to the new businesses to compensate for higher rents that BG has compared to our neighboring cities. Also, we need to bring a different downtown center like I talked about earlier.

How do you think the village should encourage redevelopment of existing retail areas that are struggling?

The Village has to build a downtown center that keeps up with current and future trends in retail. Just bringing a retail based downtown center is not a sustainable model. Retail is dying. We need fresh new ideas to bring a recreational, entertainment mixed retail complex to the downtown center to attract young families and professionals to spend their money in our village rather than spending their money in our neighbouring cities like Vernon Hills, Mundalien and Schaumburg etc.

As mentioned earlier, the village needs to address the lack of financial incentives offered to the businesses and reduce the high burden of regulations that exists in our village. We need to make sure our businesses get the help they need to address all of these issues. We do not want to see our new downtown center that duplicates the problems of the Dundee corridor and Chase plaza.

Some of our volunteer groups (commissions, committees) have seen shrinking membership. What would you do to engage the community on a broader scale? Do you think the “Engage BG” initiative is an effective program to get residents involved? What would you do to encourage broader demographic participation?

Most people haven’t heard of Enage BG. We need to show successes to excite our residents to get involved.

Do you think the Village communicates well with residents? If not, how can it be improved?

The village has improved the communications by opening up the development process to our residents. However, we need to modernize our communications to reflect new ways of communications. Social media efforts need to be improved.