Below are candidate-submitted answers to a biographical survey Riverside-Brookfield Landmark sent out to all candidates running in this year’s elections.
Prior political experience: I am currently serving as Brookfield Village Trustee and have been since 2005.
Prior community experience: I was involved as Co-Chair of the Congress Park School PTO; was on the Auxiliary and other volunteer positions of the Brookfield Little League; I was on the Brookfield History Book Committee; and served on the Special Events Commission. Currently I am involved with the Chamber of Commerce; volunteer for the Brookfield American Cancer Society Relay for Life; Kiwanis Club; and Co-Chair of the Brookfield Aging Well Team – a group that works to make information available to our resident Seniors.
Education: Attended S. E. Gross School and Riverside-Brookfield High School.
What is the most important responsibility of the village clerk in your opinion? What can be done to ensure that role is being adequately fulfilled?
I think the most important responsibility of the Village Clerk is making certain that Village information is provided in a prompt and accurate manner to people when asked for it. To ensure that role is being adequately fulfilled, I feel I need to be available as much as possible, and when not possible I need to make certain the Deputy Village Clerk is available to provide this information.
How should the clerk use technology to advance the goals of the clerk’s office? What more can Brookfield, specifically, do in this regard?
We have now totally updated our 25-year-old-plus software program. We have new modern features that can be applied to prepare and pass along information to our residents. Residents do not necessarily need to come into the Village Hall to obtain some information. Email and our website are just two of the ways to get the information out. There are also various websites that the Clerk’s office can refer residents to such as the Cook County Clerk’s site for easy and fast answers.
How can the clerk broaden the availability of information from meetings other than village board meetings? What kind of information should be available easily to the public about meetings of local advisory commissions? Where should that information be available, and how would you ensure that such information is available?
All of our minutes from our local advisory commissions are available online for our residents to read. In addition, available openings on these commissions should be shown on our website so residents can apply for any volunteer positions that may be available. We should also list a description of just what would be needed from the volunteers for each of these commissions.
Are there any other services the clerk should or might be able to provide residents?
Our local government PEG channels should and will provide information. We will provide the Village of Brookfield Code online in the near future. We should include additional information along with our water bills. We will give emergency information through our Code Red System to all residents who sign up with the Village by registering their phone number(s) with us. A program called E-Blast will pass along information to all interested residents that sign up their email address with the Village. For residents who do not utilize a computer, our Village Newsletter should go out in the mail regularly with current information made available.
