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Name: Chris Lauzen
Contact Info: 630-264-2419
Position: Kane County Board Chairman
Educational Background:
Duke University, B.S. Management Science (w/honors), 1974
University of Illinois, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), 1976
Harvard Business School, MBA, 1978
Have you served in this or any other elected position before? Yes
If yes, explain:
Kane County Board Chairman, Elected: 2012 -present
Illinois State Senator, Elected: 1992 – 2012
Introduction
I am running for reelection to continue our teamwork to “freeze the property tax levy”, “foster management best practices” and “treat people respectfully”.
Kane County is a large operation of 1300 employees, 24 board members from diverse backgrounds, 10 countywide elected officials serving more than 523000 residents with a budget of $250,000,000. This effort is more about positive and professional teamwork than it is about me personally.
I have kept my promise to you by freezing the county property tax levy for five years now and by living within our means without asking property taxpayers for more.
The most important management best practice initiated and completed during the past 3 1/2 years has been led by County Auditor Terry Hunt called KaneCountyOpenGov.org where every penny we receive and spend is put on the Internet so any concerned citizen can inspect our work.
Finally, the tone of board meetings has improved and we will not tolerate spending tax money on lawsuits between elected government officials, like occurred before I was chairman. However, “treating people respectfully” does not mean abdicating our grave responsibility to hold all of us accountable for our professional actions and budgets.
What experience and background do you have which qualifies you for this position?
I have demonstrated for the past 3 1/2 years that I bring the educational preparation, professional management and financial experience, and political skills necessary to serve as Kane County Chairman.
I bring my heart to the work that I do and do my best to align myself with what my constituents want done within current statutes.
Since I was a young adult, I have been given line management responsibilities and authority to supervise employees . . .when I was 32 years old, I managed 350 people. For the past three years, I have directly managed 1300 county staff members successfully. This is a prerequisite skill necessary in this position.
The highest compliment that I’ve earned and appreciate the most is when people say, “Chris does what he says he’s going to do”. I have kept the three promises that I made 25 years ago when I first ran successfully for the Illinois State Senate, i.e. to work hard, stay honest, and use commonsense. I have kept the promises that I made four years ago when I first ran successfully for Board Chairman, i.e. to freeze the county property tax levy, foster management best practices, and treat people as respectfully as possible.
What will be your greatest challenges if elected?
First priority: I will do my best to continue the county property tax levy freeze. Imagine … Roads are being built . . . Snow is plowed…Justice delivered…Public Safety protected…Fair Elections held…Public Health advanced…Emergency Management prepared…County Government works . . .all without asking you for more money!
Second priority: Continue Board Member growth. We respect each other by recognizing the substantial, generous, and unique contributions each member is making. There are many more examples of optimizing board members contributions to our teamwork.
Third: “management best practices” in the next four years will come in innovations that produce non-property-tax-revenues, like waste-to-fuel municipal solid waste environmentally-responsible recycling; sales and management of excess capacity of our existing 47 miles of fiber optics between networks; and, cellphone signal amplification where carriers pay the county to improve their service to cellphone users.
Release for publication: yes
I will attend the forum: – X– yes —no I will not be able to attend
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