The Village President serves as the elected leader of the village, overseeing the village board and working closely with the Village Manager in a Village Manager style of governance. In this system, the Village Manager handles the day-to-day operations of the village, while the Village President provides leadership, sets policy, and ensures the village’s long-term direction. The Village President is responsible for managing the village’s budget, implementing policies, and advocating for improvements in public services such as safety, infrastructure, and community programs. The Village President also represents the village in interactions with regional, state, and federal government agencies, ensuring the village s needs and priorities are met. This role is critical for guiding the village’s growth and enhancing residents quality of life through collaborative leadership.
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My grand father settled in Berkeley in 1917 on Bohlander Ave and our family still owns the property today , 108 years later. I personally have lived in Berkeley for 60 years, so naturally, I am very passionate about this community. My Uncle James Lee enlisted in the US Army in 1942 after graduation from Proviso High School and unfortunately died in a plane crash in France on September 11, 1944.
Lee Blvd. in Berkeley is named for my uncle who made the ultimate sacrifice serving his country, his community.
My passion for this community derived from my family work ethic , as a managing partner of a second generation family construction business located here in Berkeley. I want to help people and where better to do so than in your hometown.
The Public Safety of our community is always our #1 priority, The ongoing training , equipment, technology advancement and staffing of police and fire departments account for the largest percentage of our annual budget.
As a 100 year old community, the necessary infrastructure improvements create ever increasing challenges of our fiscal responsibility to the Berkeley residents, while not raising taxes .
We continue to plan and implement these key priorities by proper planning with our board of trustees , close and constructive relationships with our staff members to carry out our mission , vision for the community.
We have 5 years running with no tax increase, budget surpluses and a 10 year water rate freeze .
I stress teamwork = success
Absolutely,as all of those organizations have grown under my leadership. I believe that these volunteer civic groups and organizations play a vital role in community advancement. The social aspect of today’s community provides the opportunity for current and new residents to feel a part of the community growth by participating. Members appreciate the fact that Village leadership supports the collective goals and financial needs of the group on an annual basis. “Tell us how much you need and how it will be spent.” We provide support financially while requiring a financial statement from leadership with requests to present at a board meeting how our funds will be spent for the year.Transparency and accountability.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
Berkeley currently has 3 bilingual Spanish speaking employees working daily @ village hall to help our residents with communication. Our summer concert series offers diverse musical genres to have all of our community members feel welcome during our 4 week summer concert series.
Our police agency has several members who are Hispanic or Latino to also assist in serving our residents.
Berkeley has a very diverse population and we consciously make the effort to have representation of our commissioners reflective of our community. From our full time staff members , Board of Trustees and all volunteer commissioners.
We currently have federal funding 1.4 million for a sidewalk/ transportation program that thus far seems to be protected as the project is fully approved and currently under construction.
Our management team collaborates together @ staff meetings on a weekly basis to constantly plan and adapt to the local and national priorities and environment.
I have the full confidence that our staff will “stay in front of “ any potential change to federal policies as well as any other community.
We manage our community with our own resources and assistances from outside agencies only allows the project to be more successful if obtained.
I feel the trust building with the community is an ongoing work in progress. I do not feel that Berkeley’s trust does not need to be rebuilt, albeit, trust with members is never 100% and we can always do better in that regard.
My message to trustees has always been one of “the work of our board needs to happen in between our meetings.”
The fostered relationship between an elected official and community member is a service business.We need to realize the importance of a resident concern is of great importance to them at that time. Our response needs to be of respect , understanding and compassion.
We can’t always have the desired outcome but the fact that we listen, research and respond is usually the best approach to a satisfied community
