Hillcrest village trustee candidate Jason Fore shares views

Posted 3/29/17

The Rochelle News-Leader provided a list of questions for candidates running for office in the April 4 election.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Hillcrest village trustee candidate Jason Fore shares views

Posted

Family:
Married to my wife Shannon, who blessed me with three children, two amazing sons, Jacob and Colvin, and our beautiful daughter, MaKayla.

How long have you been a resident of Hillcrest:
We purchased our family home here in the Village of Hillcrest in 2005, the place we knew we wanted to raise our children. But I have been a resident of Hillcrest for about 25 years in total.
I am definitely invested in our community.

Career background:
Early in my career years I worked in the construction industry and volunteered as a First Responder and Firefighter right here in our community. I did this until I became a career firefighter in the year of 2004.

Other current or previous public service positions held:
I have served on several different boards throughout my years. I have held public service positions, some being on Rochelle Fire Pension Board, zoning board for the Village of Hillcrest, negotiation and contract committees, current Trustee for The Village of Hillcrest to name a few. I always seemed to remain involved in our community, whether severing on a board or coaching sports to our local youth.

Why do you want to serve on the village board?
There were several times over the last decade that I stood at the public podium and always felt like we, the residents, weren’t being heard. I became tired of the elected officials not listening to those that they were elected to serve. I even had one past trustee tell me that they were in the position to make decisions for the people, because they aren’t here or don’t know what is best for them. This is when I knew that I had to take the next step and get on the board myself. You see, most people don’t attend meetings unless it has something that has an effect on them personally. Most people don’t even know what has taken place until it affects them and then they are scrambling to get it changed. This is why I am running for the village trustee position, so I can protect others before we enact something on our residents.

What is the strongest asset you would bring as a trustee if elected?
When I determine my position on items within the village, I look at all aspects. I take the time to educate myself and others, so we all can make an educated decision. My goal at every meeting is to find a way to decrease any financial burden on anyone of 400 plus homes we have in the Village of Hillcrest. I try to find ways to become self reliant with the services we currently have, so we can maintain as much control as possible of village expenses. A perfect example was being apart of finding a local attorney for The Village of Hillcrest, because the previous one from the Chicago area was charging us $4,000 per month until Tim Ball and I got on the board. Think about that $48,000 per year, which didn’t included any court costs. Being one of the trustees pushing to make that change to save our tax payers money is what I will continue to do if re-elected.

What is your position with water and sewer improvement issues and costs that the village has dealt with for several years?
I say current because as information becomes available or our needs change, so will my position based on what I believe serves the most without hurting or mandating others. There will be financial discipline regardless of any project. The Village of Hillcrest has had water quality issues for way to long. Water is a basic need of every resident in our village, and if we can’t provide basic services to our resident, then we shouldn’t be looking at other major projects by themselves. Since my time as a village trustee, in less than a year, we have implemented a systematic approach to flushing our water mains. We are exercising all of the water valves throughout the entire system, opening valves that were accidentally left closed. This has help with rust in the system but isn’t a complete fix.
A couple of months ago I made the motion to have a water study done of our current system. This study tells us several things including how we can improve our quality of water, but the study has already shown us that certain areas within the village lacks sufficient water flow, which negatively impacts those residents in those areas. This finding could impact the way fire protection is provided, such as what type of vehicle responds for fires and how much water that they will be able to flow during a fire.
This isn’t my only concern with our water supply. I am currently involved with trying to find us a way to have a secondary water supply because if we lose the current tower or wells, everyone will be without water for an unknown amount time. Our current tower does not even come close to meeting the recommendations of available water and creates a lot of pressure on the old system to try to meet our current needs. We will find a way to protect everyone’s basic needs, that I am sure of.
With regard to the sewer improvement, I do not oppose the sewer system, it’s how we go about it what matters to me. First of all, I am opposed to any additional increases of cost to any resident to put sewer in by itself. I will not open another road to just install a sewer system and create a larger monthly burden to any residents. I often think about the fixed income residents who now have a month bill that they may not have been expecting with the first phase of sewer. This is why after the water study is done, I am asking for at least a five-year comprehensive plan, if not a 10-year plan.

This plan will outlay our actual needs and future needs, and all of this will be factored based on our current financial capabilities. All residents shall be informed and educated on any major project going forward before we spend any money. My focus will be to do as much as possible in areas that need to addressed. We won’t go back at a later time to replace or install something else, because we will do it while we have the ground open and won’t waste money to replace the roads again.
An example of my idea is, if we find that we need to replace a section of water main, we might as well lay the sewer plumbing while the road is open. This doesn’t require sewer connection to the current system but will be easily accessibly when the time does come.
Our roads are struggling as it is and they haven’t been kept up, but that change is already taking place. Some changes have been made, such as imposing and changing trucking routes to minimize the amount of road damage from the heavy use.
I am currently working with our engineer to determine what needs to happen to improve our roads, so we can get projects lined up for bid as soon as possible. All road projects funds will come from the motor fuel tax that is already collected, and any possible grants. Again making the most with what we can currently afford for all the right reasons.

If elected, what do you plan to focus on accomplishing in your 4-year term in order of importance?
My focus will be on everyone’s basic needs as a priority. We will focus on insuring that we can maintain our current services while operating at or below the current cost. With current employees, a few current trustees and village president, we have found ways to save on significant cost already and have already made some of those changes. These changes will help us to continue to improve our services without having to raise additional taxes or fees. We together will grow and prosper, while being financially disciplined. At the end of the day we will take care of each other.

Why should residents vote for you?
When residents go to the polls and they see my name on the ballot, I just want them to know that I am running for them. I am willing to listen and ask the questions that need to be asked. My response may not always be what you want to hear, but I will stand up for what is morally right. I am ok with being able to agree to disagree. I will do my best to educate myself and inform everyone on all of the identified possibilities of our future decisions. At the end of the day, I am a family man, and the residents of this village should feel as if they are part of a village family. It’s the one place where everyone should know that their elected officials take care of all of their residents.