John Kolleng
wilmette village board
candidate video
responses to voter guide questions
1. Why are you running for village board, and what are your qualifications?
I am John L. Kolleng and I am excited about the opportunity to serve as your Trustee on the Wilmette Village Board. I am a 40+ resident of the Village and I have previously been involved in the Village as a 10-year member of the Wilmette Zoning Board and as a Park District Coach for Soccer, Baseball and Basketball during my children’s grade school years. My wife Becky and I raised three children in the Village and we currently have three grandchildren that live here. I am a candidate for the Village Board to continue the good work of the Previous Boards by focusing on maintaining the high level of basic Village services, keeping taxes low, and working to continue the transformation of our downtown business District. I am an Attorney that served as General Counsel for American National Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago and I headed up the Bank’s Commercial and Real Estate workout groups. For the last 25 years I have consulted with banks and borrowers in troubled loan situations. Both my banking and consulting work focused on budgets, cashflow, revenue enhancement and expense reduction implementation. I believe my familiarity with the Village, my Zoning Board tenure and my work experience qualify me for Board service.
2. What are your priorities for Wilmette and how will you work with the board and Village staff to address them?
My primary focus will be to make sure that the Village’s Municipal services continue to meet the residents expectations. These services include Police, Fire, water, sewer, refuse and recycling pick up and road maintenance. Continued development of the Green Bay corridor and the downtown business district will continue to need Board attention. As a member of the Wilmette Zoning Board I worked well with my colleagues on the board and with staff members of the Village. I look forward to continuing this type of collaborative approach if elected.
3. What, if any, are your environmental priorities for the village?
I believe that any new projects that are undertaken should incorporate best practices to avoid negative environmental impact. Input from the Environmental and Energy Commission and the Village Sustainability Coordinator should be solicited as well as input from any community environmental groups. The Board should always be looking for opportunities to improve the Villages Environmental profile. Some examples would be to encourage more pervious surfaces in new development or resurfacing of existing spaces where practical. Also, improved recycling efforts for existing and future commercial spaces should be encouraged.
4. Do you think Wilmette has successfully balanced development in the village? Do you have any vision for future development in Wilmette?
As I understand it, the current Village Master Plan encouraged increased density downtown to help create demand for increased retail operations and the associated increase in sales tax revenue. Product sales through the internet have created a challenging environment for retailers large and small. This is all to evident by the vacant store fronts both downtown and in the Villages other shopping districts. The restaurant community has rebounded from the pandemic and appears to be thriving. The second building on Green Bay should come on line shortly and hopefully this will create more demand for retail shops downtown. The Board will have to monitor how this increased density helps the Village achieve the goals it set forth. As far as future development goes, each new project will have to be evaluated on its merits. Master Plan changes may also alter what is acceptable in the future.
5. Is the Village doing enough to maintain and/or improve infrastructure in Wilmette?
Forecasting for infrastructure maintenance and improvements is not an easy exercise. From year to year the Village designates certain projects and also has to deal with unexpected surprises. The Village has increased the allocation for streets, sidewalks and alleys. The overall infrastructure expenditure is a small piece of the budget. Many parts of the budget are relatively fixed, such as payroll, benefits and pension payments, so there is not that much flexibility without raising taxes or other forms of revenue. The staged in approach the Village is following offers the best long-range balance between revenue and expense.
6. How do feel Wilmette can best balance tax revenue and spending?
Wilmette’s budget reflects that many of its expenses such as payroll, benefits and pension payments are relatively fixed and take up a large part of incoming revenue. Other variable expenses such as infrastructure must fit into the available revenue after necessary expenses are covered. Real Estate taxes provide the largest chunk of Village revenue. To the extent the Village can increase revenue such as sales tax income, it can improve income. The Village has done a good job in spreading out past borrowing for projects. It also refinanced certain obligations when interest rates were low to reduce debt service on those obligations from Village revenue. The Village is looking to stage in new projects when old obligations are repaid. A continuation of this model appears to be in the Village’s best interest.
7. Do you feel the various Village Boards and commissions adequately serve Wilmette’s needs? Do you have additional ideas for how they can do so?
The various Boards and commissions certainly seem to cover the needs of the Village. The Village President and staff work together to identify qualified candidates that ultimately are appointed to the Boards and commissions. This is obviously a great system to get residents involved with Village service. Some type of evaluation by the Board would be helpful to determine if the scope of the service provided needs to change periodically.
I am John L. Kolleng and I am excited about the opportunity to serve as your Trustee on the Wilmette Village Board. I am a 40+ resident of the Village and I have previously been involved in the Village as a 10-year member of the Wilmette Zoning Board and as a Park District Coach for Soccer, Baseball and Basketball during my children’s grade school years. My wife Becky and I raised three children in the Village and we currently have three grandchildren that live here. I am a candidate for the Village Board to continue the good work of the Previous Boards by focusing on maintaining the high level of basic Village services, keeping taxes low, and working to continue the transformation of our downtown business District. I am an Attorney that served as General Counsel for American National Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago and I headed up the Bank’s Commercial and Real Estate workout groups. For the last 25 years I have consulted with banks and borrowers in troubled loan situations. Both my banking and consulting work focused on budgets, cashflow, revenue enhancement and expense reduction implementation. I believe my familiarity with the Village, my Zoning Board tenure and my work experience qualify me for Board service.
2. What are your priorities for Wilmette and how will you work with the board and Village staff to address them?
My primary focus will be to make sure that the Village’s Municipal services continue to meet the residents expectations. These services include Police, Fire, water, sewer, refuse and recycling pick up and road maintenance. Continued development of the Green Bay corridor and the downtown business district will continue to need Board attention. As a member of the Wilmette Zoning Board I worked well with my colleagues on the board and with staff members of the Village. I look forward to continuing this type of collaborative approach if elected.
3. What, if any, are your environmental priorities for the village?
I believe that any new projects that are undertaken should incorporate best practices to avoid negative environmental impact. Input from the Environmental and Energy Commission and the Village Sustainability Coordinator should be solicited as well as input from any community environmental groups. The Board should always be looking for opportunities to improve the Villages Environmental profile. Some examples would be to encourage more pervious surfaces in new development or resurfacing of existing spaces where practical. Also, improved recycling efforts for existing and future commercial spaces should be encouraged.
4. Do you think Wilmette has successfully balanced development in the village? Do you have any vision for future development in Wilmette?
As I understand it, the current Village Master Plan encouraged increased density downtown to help create demand for increased retail operations and the associated increase in sales tax revenue. Product sales through the internet have created a challenging environment for retailers large and small. This is all to evident by the vacant store fronts both downtown and in the Villages other shopping districts. The restaurant community has rebounded from the pandemic and appears to be thriving. The second building on Green Bay should come on line shortly and hopefully this will create more demand for retail shops downtown. The Board will have to monitor how this increased density helps the Village achieve the goals it set forth. As far as future development goes, each new project will have to be evaluated on its merits. Master Plan changes may also alter what is acceptable in the future.
5. Is the Village doing enough to maintain and/or improve infrastructure in Wilmette?
Forecasting for infrastructure maintenance and improvements is not an easy exercise. From year to year the Village designates certain projects and also has to deal with unexpected surprises. The Village has increased the allocation for streets, sidewalks and alleys. The overall infrastructure expenditure is a small piece of the budget. Many parts of the budget are relatively fixed, such as payroll, benefits and pension payments, so there is not that much flexibility without raising taxes or other forms of revenue. The staged in approach the Village is following offers the best long-range balance between revenue and expense.
6. How do feel Wilmette can best balance tax revenue and spending?
Wilmette’s budget reflects that many of its expenses such as payroll, benefits and pension payments are relatively fixed and take up a large part of incoming revenue. Other variable expenses such as infrastructure must fit into the available revenue after necessary expenses are covered. Real Estate taxes provide the largest chunk of Village revenue. To the extent the Village can increase revenue such as sales tax income, it can improve income. The Village has done a good job in spreading out past borrowing for projects. It also refinanced certain obligations when interest rates were low to reduce debt service on those obligations from Village revenue. The Village is looking to stage in new projects when old obligations are repaid. A continuation of this model appears to be in the Village’s best interest.
7. Do you feel the various Village Boards and commissions adequately serve Wilmette’s needs? Do you have additional ideas for how they can do so?
The various Boards and commissions certainly seem to cover the needs of the Village. The Village President and staff work together to identify qualified candidates that ultimately are appointed to the Boards and commissions. This is obviously a great system to get residents involved with Village service. Some type of evaluation by the Board would be helpful to determine if the scope of the service provided needs to change periodically.