Why Elena Galinski and I are running for trustee

Burr Ridge IL

18 February, 2021

2:24 PM

Description

Elena Galinski and I are on the April 6 ballot for village trustee. One of the key pillars of our campaign is to bring more transparency to government in Burr Ridge. A second key pillar is reducing the tax burden through fiscal responsibility. We certainly could have used more of both concepts at the recent board meeting on Monday, February 8th when figures on crime and the budget were presented. During his annual crime report, Chief John Madden told us that non-violent, or property, crime in Burr Ridge has dropped over the past five years. But figures, based on FBI data from the respected crime data website City-Data.com, show the opposite. "In the last 5 years Burr Ridge has seen a rise in violent crime and a rise in property crime,"the site reported. From 2018 to 2019 alone, the crime rate in Burr Ridge rose by 6 percent according to the data. Overall, Burr Ridge has a higher crime rate than nearly all of our nearest towns. The discrepancy, of course, is no small matter when it comes to the safety of our residents. I sent an email to the Chief asking why there is such a difference in the figures. Whatever the reason, residents have a right to know whether Burr Ridge is getting safer, as the Chief's numbers seem to indicate, or less safe. I'm also hopeful that Chief will be able to make some suggestions to help Burr Ridge improve outcomes and lower costs. For example, it was nice to hear about the option to spend $60,000 a year more on cameras and monitoring software but when I asked if this would allow us to reduce any overtime or other costs, I was rebuffed. It's troubling that that the only solution Burr Ridge has to make our town more secure is to spend more money. Policing and police pensions account for 60% of our budget. That is growing exponentially every year, but it's not clear we are getting any better outcomes. In addition, a preliminary budget discussion indicated that Burr Ridge spending is spiraling out of control. I was the only Trustee to ask how all of the items that the board identified as "priorities" fit into the overall budget picture. There did not appear to be much critical thinking from Grasso's' rubber-stamp board, and no one was asking any hard questions, except me. Again with the goal of more transparency and fiscal restraint, I have asked our Interim Village Administrator, Evan Walter, to put the following items on the meeting agenda for the 2/22/21 meeting: I'd like to see three due diligence/transparency/fiscal responsibility data points included with future vendor approval/spending approval lists, commonly known as the "board list" which we vote on at every meeting to approve the village's spending: a. Begin including cost reviews that include the relevant budget number(s) for that budget line (expected monthly expense or expected year to date and total budget, for example) and how the specific items being approved impacts the budget lines; b. Highlight items that are extra to the budget, otherwise known as non-budgeted items; c. Highlight costs that are higher than budgeted. Hopefully, Evan will comply with this reasonable request so our board can discuss and ideally incorporate these concepts into our regular practices. In addition, we hear things during the "public comments" or "Communications from Village Officials" portions of the meeting that might warrant more board discussion and follow up. But there is no timely and regular mechanism in our current board meeting format to do that. It sometimes feels like we just move on and steamroll over certain issues that might deserve a broader discussion. I've heard this from residents too. Earlier this year, the Board changed the process for how board members may request agenda items for discussion, but Elena pointed out to me that no protocol exists for residents to request agenda items or even for Trustees to request them in response to what residents talk about during public comments. After all, the Board exists to carry out the will of the People, and ensure they get the services they need so it makes a lot of sense to have a format that allows the Board to respond to their input right away. So in response, I've also asked Evan to add a standing item to every upcoming agenda, after "public comments," and after "comments from elected officials," to address: "Things to include on next meeting's agenda" where trustees can bring up any items they want to add to the agenda for the next meeting. I'm hopeful this regular checkpoint at each of our meetings will change that. Complete transparency is the only way to ensure that Burr Ridge is being governed for the benefit of the residents and not for the benefit of a handful of politicians and well-connected businesses. Transparency is the only way we can be assured taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently so we can keep property taxes low. Residents need to join Elena Galinski and me in requiring 100% transparency and the resulting fiscal responsibility from Burr Ridge.