Endorsements 2005
The issues in Brookfield, when you cut through the haze created by the politics of the village, boil down to basic principles. Village government has to be able to articulate a clear set of goals and provide a set of guidelines that will make those goals achievable.
Whether its budgeting for the long-term financial health of the village, repairing streets and infrastructure or coping with both economic and residential development, the village needs a recognizable strategy for implementing change.
The person we feel best qualified to responsibly lead Brookfield toward that kind of comprehensive approach to village government is Michael Garvey.
We believe Garvey would make village government more transparent to residents, would work to create a budgeting process that sets clear priorities and acts to fund them. He would seek to implement a street resurfacing program unburdened by political caveats, and he would insist on depoliticizing village hall by hiring qualified professionals to handle the day-to-day business of Brookfield.
In addition, we feel that Garvey has the ability to work across party lines and seek diverging input on issues. And we feel that he won’t greet differences of opinion as personal attacks, but as opportunities for dialogue.
With Garvey as president we feel issues would be debated freely in order to find solutions that made long-term sense. Less speechmaking, more governing.
We fundamentally reject claims that Garvey is interested only in derailing progress by obstructing the current administration. The fact is that the current administration has enjoyed a solid board majority for an entire term of office. But instead of using that majority to implement comprehensive solutions, it has used that majority to act punitively against any difference of opinion and to ram through politically divisive measures.
After four years of a solid majority there should be a comprehensive plan to fund street repairs. There is none. After hiring a new finance director two years ago, there should be more financial information available to board members and the public. There is less.
After budgeting for and supporting the creation of an economic development position in village hall, no one has been hired. The village overpaid for park land it purchased in 2004 after waiting until the 11th hour to negotiate for it, and now there is no realistic plan in place for improving that park land.
Last spring there was an urgent call to replace the village water meters. That urgency has vanished, along with last year’s urgency to abate taxes for residents in Special Service Areas.
Staffing within the village manager’s office has been slashed, and staffing within the Recreation Department has been slashed. These are decisions that affect residents directly and negatively. And the reason these things happen and will continue to happen under the current administration is that there is no strategic plan to guide decisions. Politics guides decision-making.
There is no doubt that Brookfield has seen change, even progress, in the last four years under the administration of Bill Russ. But progress can’t be judged solely on the basis of individual instances or as a reaction to political pressures. Progress can only be tracked by how each decision fits into a long-term plan. That sense of the long-term is lacking from Russ.