League of Women Voters
of Elmhurst - Voters Guide for the General Primary Election |
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Debra Olson |
| Introduction: Thank you for the invitation to participate in this candidate forum. It is an honor and privilege to serve in public office, and every opportunity to meet constituents and talk with them about the issues is invaluable. I am excited to be a candidate for County Board Chairman. As a lifelong resident, a current County Board member, a former Trustee on the DuPage Regional Board of Schools, a business owner, a wife, and mother who has raised four children here in DuPage, I have invested my community service and my public, personal, and professional life in DuPage County. The future of our County is extremely important to me. On a board in which half of the 18 members are lawyers, and only three of the 18 are women, I have brought a valuable and independent perspective, and a strong work ethic to make significant changes. During my three terms on the County Board, I have worked hard to reform the way we operate in County government and set us on a positive path for the future. I am committed to smaller, limited government, long-term fiscal responsibility, restraint, and accountability, and have the record to prove it. I am the only candidate in this race who is a County Board Member, and better than any other candidate, I know the issues we face, where we’ve been, where we need to go, and the challenges ahead. As County Board Chairman I will build upon the good government reforms and successes I’ve already achieved. I am the only candidate who has demonstrated the leadership, conviction, and collaboration; dealt with the breadth of issues and achieved real results in county government that matter most in the position of County Board Chairman. I ask for your support and your vote on February 2. For more information about DuPage County government, please visit www.dupageco.org. 1. Please describe the functions and responsibilities of the office you seek and explain why you are qualified to hold that office. As County Board Chairman, I will offer leadership committed to smaller, limited government, and long-term fiscal responsibility, restraint, and accountability. These are principles I have fought for during my three terms and believe are essential for the future of DuPage. The County Board Chairman leads and works with the County Board in developing, and supervising the implementation of, the Board's policies and programs. The Chairman presides at Board meetings, prepares the agenda, and schedules meetings of the Board. The County Board holds the purse strings, so the Chairman prepares a proposed annual budget and works with the County Board and other officials to achieve an annual and long-term financial plan. The Chairman makes committee assignments, appoints committee chairmen, and recommends new and special committees as the need arises. The Chairman serves as an ex-officio member of all Board committees, and, with advice and consent of the County Board, also appoints representatives to several other boards and committees. Dealing with the challenges ahead, the Chairman must
be both a strong leader and a consensus-builder. She must have vision
for local and regional issues, and be innovative and responsive to effectively
do more with less. She must work collaboratively to build partnerships
with other governmental leaders to provide better services at lower costs.
I bring those qualities and more. I believe I am the most qualified to
hold this office because I am already there doing the work others are
promising to do. As the only candidate in this race who currently serves
on the County Board, I have dedicated my entire 12 year tenure of public
service to County government, and have been recognized during my three
terms on the Board as an independent voice for taxpayers. I have been
a leader in reducing the size of DuPage county government, bringing spending
under control, and building collaborative partnerships with community
and government leaders to more effectively deliver services. Today, DuPage
county government is smaller than when I came to the Board, reducing the
county’s burden on property taxpayers by hundreds of millions of
dollars since I was elected. Building a coalition of fellow county board
members, I took the forefront on proposing and passing historic reforms
to DuPage County government that have resulted in greater transparency,
an open and honest budget process, long-term budgets and capital planning,
and more accountability for the dollars we spend. Working with business,
community, and other governmental leaders, I have led on the Strategic
Plan process and implementation, thereby setting a course for the future
of DuPage. I have the most thorough knowledge of the issues we face, understand
the strengths and weaknesses of DuPage County government, and know the
history of what has worked and what hasn’t. The leadership I have
shown in making tough choices, building coalitions, working to develop
sound policy is what we need in a County Board Chairman. I believe my
experience, leadership, and my record make me the most qualified person
for this office. 2. Do you see a need to reduce expenses in DuPage County government? If so, what do you propose? When I first ran for County Board, I promised that I would reduce spending and make government more efficient. I have delivered on that promise. Since first elected, my record consistently demonstrates that I am committed to smaller, limited government, long-term fiscal responsibility, restraint, and accountability. Unlike the bloated budgets, deficit spending, and huge patronage of Cook County and Springfield, this year alone, DuPage has a balanced budget that cut $30 million in spending and held off on 58 headcount from department requests, and has $40 million in cash reserves. I have been a leader on cutting spending, eliminating waste and duplication, streamlining processes, and more prudently allocating tax dollars. This was accomplished across all departments and in cooperation with the countywide officers. We then sent the tools to the Health Department to do the same. Today, our headcount and our budget are lower than in 2003.However, cutting alone will not necessarily produce a better result. The DuPage County Strategic Plan is an important guiding document that was developed in cooperation with Countywide Elected Officials, business, community, and local leaders, to play a role in prioritization of issues and goals. Collaborative efforts by all levels of government, along with community partners, will be necessary to provide essential services and reduce costs for all. I will continue my commitment and leadership in those efforts, working with the County Board and other governmental officials to determine ways to further streamline and consolidate functions, find efficiencies that are mutually beneficial, eliminate unnecessary positions and programs, and save money. For example, the County Board is working with the Chief Judge to investigate the possibility of transforming our county Juvenile Detention Facility into a regional youth facility to fully utilize the space and better cover the costs of operations and staffing. The pre-trial monitoring program has saved the County nearly a million dollars this year – its first year. Other possibilities are cooperative arrangements in back-office functions, utilizing innovative technologies that save energy, time, and money, and upgrading our IT department to enhance our ability to implement performance measures. These are seemingly small tools but can have large pay-offs. Training and empowering our 2000+ County employees to find efficiencies within their operations and create solutions across departments are techniques businesses have used for years to reduce costs and eliminate waste. Though we must focus on our core mandated functions, we must also not lose sight of the important role County government plays in the quality of life of many of DuPage’s residents that otherwise have few or no options. While severe budget shortfalls can necessitate across-the-board layoffs and cuts in services, with our current budget projections, I believe a scalpel approach, along with beefing up efforts to maximize our utilization of resources and community partnerships is more prudent. In terms of the employee and service costs county government bears, it’s important to note that Springfield’s promises to reform the pension system county governments are required to participate in have gone unfulfilled, and the state fails to pay for their mandated responsibilities. For instance, while statute requires the state to reimburse counties 100% for probation officers, over the past few years the state has been reimbursing at 68%, and this year has cut it further to 40%. Medicaid reimbursement formulas also short-change DuPage. Continually making up the state shortfalls further increases costs to county government unabated. As County Board Chairman, I will continue to advocate
county governments be properly and promptly reimbursed and counties be
allowed to provide alternative pension plans to the state pension system.
I will build upon the good government reforms and successes I’ve
already achieved. I will prioritize our short and long-term goals for
appropriate budgeting and planning. I will further build the partnerships
necessary to be innovative in providing essential services for less. Perhaps
most importantly, I will promote policies for a business-friendly environment
that encourages entrepreneurship and company growth to enhance our local
economy, put people back to work, and bring in greater revenues through
sales, jobs, property ownership, etc. 3. Indicate some environmentally friendly endeavors you want the county to pursue. How important are utilizing environmental friendly building standards and practices in new construction? Would you support this even if it meant increased construction costs? As a County Board member who has demonstrated a commitment to advancing environmentally sensitive and sound policy at the County level, I can say first-hand that we have made significant strides in that area and continue to improve. In my three terms on the County Board, I have had the privilege to work on numerous environmental policy initiatives. On the Environmental Committee, we have created and adopted the Environmental Responsibility and Conservation Policy which addresses procurement, energy reduction, recycling, and resource conservation to reduce our environmental impact. We have also worked with our Transportation Department on our Safe Routes to School program and trail system extensions to offer alternatives for walking and biking safely to work and school. Our Transportation department is utilizing ECOSALT – a sugar beet juice product to reduce the amount of Chloride introduced into stormwater and onto the land from winterizing of our County roads. As a founding member of the Trails Maintenance Policy Task Force, I have worked with Trails Groups, the Conservation Foundation, the DuPage Forest Preserve, Morton Arboretum and others to develop policies and train staff on appropriate maintenance of the trail and path systems. As a member of the County’s Development Committee, I support our ongoing relationship with SCARCE, an environmental education program that brings public and private resources together to expand environmental education and teach practical environmentally-friendly strategies and practices in classrooms, at chambers of commerce and local businesses, local government facilities, and more. We have also begun researching green technologies in the building industry to recommend best-practices to developers and homeowners seeking permits through the County Building Department. The County’s Environmental Commission coordinates an Earth Summit annually, and makes recommendations to improve the County’s environmental policy. I have also been a leader on advancing numerous energy policy initiatives, including replacing our county vehicles with hybrids and alternative fuels vehicles where practical, conducting an energy audit and implementing the recommendations to save both energy and money by utilizing technologies and making modifications to facilities to reduce consumption. As the Chairman of Public Works, we consistently look for environmentally-friendly products and options when making capital improvements and replacements. To date, we are installing a green roof where a roof replacement is required, replacing wood chairs with chairs that are made of recycled materials, replacing light bulbs with CFL bulbs, using low VOC paints in our facilities, installing motion sensors for lighting, installing energy efficient windows, and more. We have also used Ground Rubber Tire resurfacing products for County roads, recycling thousands of tires. The County also hosts several recycling events in conjunction with municipalities throughout the year for proper disposal of paints, electronics, hazardous household waste, and document shredding. The County is also committed to improving water quality by coordinating regional water quality monitoring, education, public outreach, planning and impaired water improvement projects in order to comply with the Federal Clean Water Act. These are only a few of the environmental initiatives
I have worked on as a County Board Member. As County Board Chairman, I
will maintain my commitment to environmentally-friendly endeavors. As
a small business owner, I know that the ability to embrace and incorporate
new technologies is critical to remaining relevant and profitable. The
construction industry is no different. Maintaining a balance in environmental
policy is important to its success. Encouraging environmentally-friendly
building standards is being pursued, but must be done so with caution
– often times technologies can become redundant or are impractical,
thereby needlessly adding to the costs of construction. Knowing and understanding
both the short and long-term environmental impacts of new construction
and energy products is important before requiring their implementation.
4. Given the current economic climate, would you support a salary freeze or reduction for DuPage County elected officials? This is an issue I have felt very strongly about since first elected to the County Board – in tough economic times, elected officials should be the first to make the sacrifice, leading by example. While others can claim that they would support a salary freeze or reduction, I have actually done it. I have consistently voted against salary increases for County Board Members and County-wide elected officials, and despite the salary increase passing, I have not taken the increase anyway. Currently the County Board Members’ salaries are frozen for 2/3 of the Board (because salaries for Board Members are addressed on a staggered cycle). I will support a freeze in salaries for the remaining 1/3 cycle. I also will support a reduction in salaries for all County elected officials. As Chairman of the Cost-cutting and Efficiency Committee, it was my recommendation to eliminate perks and stipends for elected officials (which we did), reduce salaries by 10%, and eliminate bloated pensions for elected officials. Though only some of those reforms passed, I believe they are as relevant today as they were when I proposed them three years ago. 5. What three specific initiatives would you like to accomplish during the upcoming term in office? Politicians promising to be all things to all people are what gets government in trouble. My most important “initiative” will be to keep the budget in check and county government under control. While the county's Strategic Plan guides us in prioritizing and setting goals for the many demands placed on county government, including stormwater management, transportation needs, public safety, and human services, common sense says that the greatest challenge to leaders is to keep government from crawling deeper into taxpayers’ pockets. Keeping control of costs and limiting spending are important, but building a business climate that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation will not only encourage companies to locate here, but will produce more jobs, more sales, and thus more revenue. Illinois has the lowest in-migration (people moving here) and companies flee to surrounding states because of the onerous regulations and high costs and fees put on business by the state legislature. Yet more people come into DuPage than leave the County for work each day. We have been an oasis in the Illinois business desert, and I will work with community and business leaders to make DuPage an attractive place to start and relocate business, thus enhancing our overall economic strength. Having led the development and passage of landmark budget, transparency and accountability reforms to set the ship of County government on the right course, my second initiative will be to continue to lead the County in implementing good government principles. Among those, procurement reform such as online bidding, reverse auction bidding, and bidding of professional services from a pool of qualified applicants will allow for a more transparent and open process in awarding contracts. I will continue to work with our IT and Finance staff to consolidate and upgrade IT functions. This will enhance reporting, budgeting and auditing, provide an even greater ability for transparency, help staff to work more efficiently, as well as allow implementation of more meaningful performance measures to evaluate the effectiveness and cost/benefit of our services. I will continue to work with our Strategic Manager to implement the goals of the County Strategic Plan, and empower our staff to be customer service-oriented and invested in problem-solving and proposing solutions to the issues the County faces. My third initiative will be to expand our collaborations with community, business, and governmental partners to effectively do more with less. As stated above, dealing with the challenges ahead, the Chairman must be both a strong leader and a consensus-builder. She must have vision for local and regional issues, and be innovative and responsive to achieve success. I have helped build collaborative relationships to construct roads, drainage projects, and provide court-mandated services for lower cost and in less time. Choose DuPage, a relatively new public/private partnership of the County and local business leaders, has already brought several new employment opportunities to DuPage County. We are working with surrounding counties to collaborate on juvenile detention services. Partnerships with local not-for-profits have provided needed services at a far lower cost to government. I have seen how County government can be more effective by working more closely and cooperatively with our local and regional government peers to provide better services for less, and reduce county expenses. I will make it a priority to build on those successes and broaden those relationships. Most importantly, under the budget constraints we face for the foreseeable future, I will strive to keep us on a sound financial footing. Our challenges will not be solved with lofty semantics, but with thoughtful approaches to problem-solving and a get-in-the-trenches work ethic. We are a sophisticated, well-educated citizenry in DuPage with the resolve to get things done. New technological advances are on our doorstep that can lower costs, improve our environment, enhance our quality of life, and change the way we do business. It is up to leaders in DuPage County to access this creativity and utilize these new resources to make government more productive, responsive, and lean. As the DuPage County Board Chairman, I will be that kind of leader. 6. What is the best way for county government to advance economic development and create jobs? Government does not create jobs, the private sector does. I am not a lawyer (1/2 of the County Board members are lawyers), but am a small business owner with my husband, so I bring that understanding and perspective. And as a mom with four young adult children, I am doubly aware of how difficult it is for people to find employment today. Unfortunately our state government’s policies have forced businesses to move out of Illinois and have hindered job growth. However, DuPage is blessed with a strong base of employers of all sizes and types, and county government has a solid commitment to attracting, retaining, and assisting businesses to provide well-paying jobs and meaningful employment. DuPage is also home to several colleges, including College of DuPage which has 30,000 commuters enrolled each year. For the past several years, DuPage has brought more people into the county for work each day than leave the county to go to their job. The best way to advance economic development is a three-pronged approach: 1) Taking care of Basic County Functions - keeping taxes and crime low, maintaining and improving infrastructure to keep traffic flowing; 2) Building Partnerships – working with our Regional Superintendent of Schools and our local universities to promote excellent education for students ready to enter the workforce or going to college; working with municipalities, PACE and METRA on public transit options; working with business leaders through public/private partnership organizations such as Choose DuPage to attract and retain businesses; supporting workforce training through our partnership with the Workforce Investment Board; working with our local chambers of commerce to support small business creation and success; and 3) Promoting regional projects such as Western Access to O’Hare and the I-355 Corridor Bus Rapid Transit System.
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