John Seale: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: BolingbrookWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: DuPage Township Board (4-year Terms)Age: 52Family: wife, four children, three grandchildrenOccupation: Service ManagerEducation: Aircraft Electronics, U.S. Marines, 1979Civic involvement: DuPage Township Democratic OrganizationElected offices held: Precinct CommitteemanHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: noCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Financial responsibility of the township.Key Issue 2 Accountability of the township.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers Name the three most important goals or objectives this board should tackle in the coming term. Prioritize them, and briefly discuss why you believe each to be critical, and how the board should go about addressing them.Reduce administrative cost. Redirect funding to most critical areas. Promote awareness and participation in township government.In the 21st Century, with municipalities gobbling up vacant land, why are townships needed? Should they be serving a new role? If so, what?I think the beauty of a democracy is that the people have a choice regarding the form of government and here in Illinois we have chosen the township form of government. As for municipalities acquiring vacant land this only increases the need for the services provided by the township given that one of the primary responsibilities of the township is property assessment. As for new roles, I think the township's current responsibilites are well defined and the voters will be best served by the township operating as efficiently as possible.What should be the primary responsibility of township government?By statute the township is charged with providing general assistance to the indigent, assessing property and maintenance of roads and bridges that fall outside any other jurisdiction. I view these as the primary responsibilities of township government until the voters say otherwise.In these hard economic times, can you identify some township expenses/programs that could be trimmed or eliminated to reduce the tax burden?The expense line that keeps popping up for me are the administrative costs and I would like to see those trimmed to reduce the burden on taxpayers.What specific background or experience do you bring that makes you the best qualified candidate to serve as an elected official in the township?My background includes over thirty years in customer services with experience managing operations including personnel management as well as establishing and managing budgets. As a non-commissioned officer in the Marines I learned the importance of working with people to get things done, how to listen and how to delegate authority to accomplish tasks in support of an overall mission and to take responsibility for the outcome. As a manager I learned the importance of effective decision making, the need to balance information gathering wtih timely identification of actionable issues and finally to empower people to get things done.