From left: Paul Anzilotti, Rhett Speros and Arthur Long

Our Village is in trouble, the result of years of uncontested elections and a Village Board that rubber-stamps dubious decision after dubious decision.  The result:

Increasing and unsustainable Village debt – from $4.3 million in 2021 to almost $18 million now, with more, perhaps significantly more, to come
Lack of planning for infrastructure 
Undisciplined spending (millions on consultants and lawyers; a $3.655 million authorization for Municipal Center “improvements,” including $800,000 for furniture and $150,000 for window treatments) 
Brushing off the concerns of constituents:

For example, the avoidable Picture House controversy, where eminent domain was threatened against longstanding Village businesses, and the Board spent almost $150,000 on lawyers plus a phony “blight study” 

Lack of transparency: 

No Trustee spoke to these Village businesses before undertaking a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process that included the possibility of eminent domain
A $786,195 “special item” in this year’s budget for “contingency”

Continued pursuit of large-scale developments without considering the effects of existing developments on the community, such as a lack of parking

Lack of forthrightness about Board decisions:  

For example, Board members have claimed that –  

this year’s tax increase – characterized as “medium sized” – partially reflected an increase in assessed property values.  The reality was that it came from significantly increased spending.
the majority of the increase in Village spending was beyond the Trustees’ control.  The reality was that much of it stemmed from the Trustees’ own decisions.
there was no intention to exercise eminent domain as part of the Picture House RFQ.  The reality is that the threat of eminent domain alone can be enough to make businesses sell.

Unless this year’s election brings a change, this unsustainable course will accelerate.  We already know of families who have moved out of the Village because of what is occurring here, and others who are considering moving.  This is extremely sad, and we need to stop it.

We pledge to:

Focus on getting the Village’s finances under control  
Serve without pay and encourage our Mayor and fellow Trustees to do the same
Vote not to exceed the tax cap during our time in office
Create an overall plan for needed infrastructure improvements, such as flood mitigation, not just borrow and spend, willy-nilly, year after year
Bring openness to Village decisions 
Encourage participation and a free exchange of ideas – if you come to a Board meeting because of a bad decision like the Picture House RFQ, we won’t ask you to limit comments to “two or three minutes”; we’d rather hear you speak than us
Require that any new development serve a public purpose, be in scale, and not worsen issues with our infrastructure and our schools
Find a way to restore appropriate parking to those who have lost it

We are registered Republicans and are not seeking to hide that fact.  The challenges facing the Village are not partisan.  They affect Democrats and Independents in the same way.  The solutions are non-partisan too.  We hope many Democrats and Independents will agree.  

Finally, local campaigns should be run as local campaigns, without the ugliness of the current national scene.  We strongly disagree with the current Board members about their decisions, but their decisions are all that is relevant here.  We intend to speak about the issues alone.  Recent elections have not shown our community at its best and have not taught our children the right lessons about democracy.  

We bring a diversity of experience from law, business, engineering, and the U.S. military. We hope to meet many of you before November 3rd and are eager to hear your concerns.

Paul Anzilotti

Arthur Long

Rhett Speros