Eight candidates are running for Rolling Meadows City Council in a total of three contested aldermanic races.

The Ward 3 candidates on the April 2 ballot are: incumbent Laura Majikes, who has been alderman since 2013; Kevin O’Brien, the park board president and a member of the city’s planning and zoning commission; and Deborah Banach, who retired from the police department last year after 18 years.

The Ward 5 candidates are: Glenn Adams, who was alderman from 1997 to 2011; Jon Bisesi, chairman of the planning and zoning commission; and Joe Szafran, who works in building maintenance for the park district.

The Ward 7 candidates are: Alderman Rob Williams, who was appointed to the position by Mayor Len Prejna last July; and Lara Sanoica, a member of the city’s environmental committee.

The Daily Herald asked candidates to respond to a questionnaire about local issues. Some of their responses are below. For complete election coverage, visit dailyherald.com.

Q. How would you describe the condition of your community’s budget, and what are the most important specific actions the town should take to assure providing the level of services people want?

Banach: The knowledge that I have today on our city’s budgets is that it is stable, but we have to plan better for the future. Each and every citizen in this ward is responsible for their home’s budget, and have to adjust to make ends meet. Our council members need to take a better look, and think outside of the box more than they have in the past.

Majikes: Under the strong direction of the council, our finance director and staff, the budget has become quite solid. Reserves are strong. With eliminating the vehicle stickers, this takes a burden off the residents.

O’Brien: Our current budget is in fair condition. As a new member of the city council, it would be important to acknowledge what decisions have already been made and which I can influence. In any future decisions, I would weigh the potential benefit to residents against the proposed costs seeking input and looking at multiple options.

One of my first action items would be to thoroughly review the status of all initiatives in progress and what contracts are already in place. Fiscal responsibility, is not to be taken lightly and I am fully committed to being an accountable steward of our resources. Decisions like the new natural gas tax need to be monitored to ensure they meet their intended outcome. We need to take action to make sure Rolling Meadows continues to be a place families, restaurants and businesses want to call home.

Our public safety, fire and public works departments are second to none. Over and over I hear from residents that this is one of the main reasons many love Rolling Meadows. Regrettably taxes will never go down, but by making sound fiscal decisions, we can hopefully help slow the upward trend while still supporting crucial city services.

Adams: Overall, I think the city budget is good. The city of Rolling Meadows has always been known as a community that provides superior services. That has once again been demonstrated with recent snow falls. I pulled out of my driveway and the street was plowed. When I got on Algonquin Road and Route 53, the state snowplows had not even plowed yet.

Thankfully, I have not had a need to use them lately, I have heard positive things about our fire department and police department. One major lesson I have learning from past experience as an alderman is having the right person as city manager and finance director. It is important to have people with high integrity and honesty. I feel the city has that with our current Staff.

Bisesi: There is good and bad with the current budget. I believe the plan to resolve the pension issues is a good start. We need to stay the course while continuing to find additional ways to address the root causes of this very complex issue.

Another issue regarding the budget is the road fund. We need to continue to make sure it is adequately funded and never repeat the pattern of underfunding that caused our roads to deteriorate so badly.

Outside of the road fund, I believe there may be expenditures elsewhere in the budget that may not be needed. This money can be used to restore some of the services we had in the past such as the chipper week.

I moved to Rolling Meadows because of the lower cost of living and small-town feel. Over the last 20 years I have seen our community slowly change. In that time fees and taxes have been raised to the point they exceed or match those of surrounding communities. At the same time, many of the unique services that make Rolling Meadows different have disappeared. I don’t want Rolling Meadows to become just another suburb.

Szafran: The financial situation is worrisome in Rolling Meadows due in large part to economic situations in the state, as well as worldwide. As such, Rolling Meadows needs to move cautiously into the future. Residents are worried about property taxes escalating as huge bond issues are added to the budget.

Residents feel city-provided services of fire, police, public works and library are all very good. Efficiencies and cost savings could be achieved by utilizing in-house expertise instead of outsourcing to outside contractors on various projects. When improvements are needed to services we need to hold down adding expenses to the budget.

Overall, the budget is well prepared and presented and sufficiently funded, however since a large portion of the budget depends on the business growth of the community, its strength is a major concern. The business community responded to a survey sometime ago wherein they expressed a lack of communication between the city and businesses.

The council needs to put more effort into bringing major corporations into the area. Additionally, they need to stay focused to improve communications with the current business community to ensure their longevity.

Sanoica: I think there is a lot that Rolling Meadows does well regarding its budget and budgetary planning process. However, the procurement process needs improvement. In the past, the bidding process has had bidders that were more than 15 percent off from one another, which means that contractors were either missing important information or they were misunderstanding the request for

proposal process. More than anything, I think that Rolling Meadows has an interest in accurately communicating the procurement process and any major changes that occur during that process to stakeholders.

Williams: Rolling Meadows has done a good job of watching how it spends its residents’ tax money, and is working on several projects right now that will make operations even more efficient and responsive to the residents’ needs. Taking a broad view on all issues and not letting the vocal minority overwhelm the facts and the larger picture needs to continue. The city has done a good job of helping with neighborhood problems while not forgetting the larger picture up until now and needs to continue that.

Q. What’s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

Banach: We need to give back to our community. To be more involved and supportive of each other. When I go for walks throughout my Ward, I have noticed many homes that are in need of help in some way or another. One idea to help homeowners would be to partner with Districts 214 and 211 in regard to their Harper Promise — with the students volunteering their time, whether it be mowing lawns, trimming bushes or painting a house. I’m sure we could come up with a solution. Volunteering is a wonderful thing and you’re never too young to start. It’s not always about taking from the citizens, but helping.

Majikes: While I am a part of the city’s “Business Messenger” publication, I would like to expand on business communication. I think it would be beneficial to have business owners and city officials meet every few months to discuss their successes and concerns. This will help us to see where we can make improvements.

O’Brien: Other people may have thought about this and a change I feel is important is a new location for the city holiday tree. I feel there are a few viable options which will allow more residents to be part of the tradition. Along with a new holiday tree location, green space is a key to keeping Rolling Meadows a great place to call home.

As future businesses and developments come before the city, green space for residents to enjoy are critical. These smaller items add up and are why people love to call Rolling Meadows home. New and fresh perspectives of city council representatives who collaborate with residents is what’s needed to keep Rolling Meadows prepared for the future!

Adams: I have never been a fan of any taxes outside of property taxes. I did not vote for the electric tax when I was an alderman and did not vote for the gasoline tax as well. When a natural gas tax was discussed I said I would not support it.

If you have a business that closes down you may face lower property tax revenues plus you lose electric tax and now natural gas utility tax revenues which means triple deficits to the revenue streams. Once a tax is put in place it is very difficult to remove it. If we ever have a chance to repeal or reduce utility taxes I would love to make that move.

Bisesi: I would suggest that aldermen conduct town hall meetings at regular intervals in order to share the facts surrounding an issue and have a constructive conversation with the residents of their wards.

Too often the only information the residents get to form opinions comes from the incomplete or inaccurate assumptions of fact they see on the internet. I believe these meetings could be one tool to help resolve some of the mistrust in local government I see building in our community.

Another suggestion is that we put together a volunteer committee of residents, councilmen and staff to brainstorm and implement additional ways to improve and/or enhance communication with the residents.

Szafran: Rolling Meadows needs to address the “wants” of the older residents while focusing on those of the younger generation as well. Our older residents want to be able to remain in their homes as long as they are healthy but they’re facing increasing costs in property taxes, utilities, food, medical costs and food.

While most of this is out of the hands of the city itself, seeing millions in expenditures for two fire houses and losing commercial development on the former Dominick’s property causes great concern. I would like to establish a committee with our older residents so that they could be represented as a group.

In this way we can communicate with the group to hear their concerns, represent them in issues and provide them with accurate information as well as provide a resource center for assistance that may be of help to them. Secondly, we need to build a stronger bond with our large corporations, reach out and include them in the community, and encourage major business to establish themselves in the city. The city lost Weber Grill because they wouldn’t allow them to put up their trademark large Weber grill. They are now located in Palatine. Rolling Meadows lies in such a unique location to draw major corporations.

There are four exits off Route 53 leading directly into the business districts of Rolling Meadows. With Golf Road east, Algonquin Road east and west, Kirchoff Road east and west, and Euclid Road east and west, our city lies in an ideal location. This should be the city’s marketing tool to entice new business.

With the majority of events being put on by the Community Events Foundation, major corporations like Gallagher, Northrop, etc. should be persuaded to underwrite the cost of some of these events. After the business survey a business advocate was hired to connect with our business community. The first business showcase hosted mostly small “mom/pop” businesses rather than our major corporations. The bridge with our major businesses needs to be built and built quickly. Many businesses are closing due to the economy.

A reflection of a weak economy is slowing our city’s economic growth. We need to do more work with major companies to keep them in Rolling Meadows which will keep the budget strong. Further, I would expect the city to reach out to the major Rolling Meadows businesses to partner with the city with more than an address.

Finally, it seems that money is often wasted on programs, ideas or policies that seemed to work out on paper. I would propose pilot programs in one or two wards at a time be tried for effectiveness or improvements. Then once modified or found to be acceptable, then they can be initiated citywide, dropped or postponed.

Sanoica: I respect Rolling Meadows’ efforts to increase community engagement and sense of camaraderie. The success of the Community Events Foundation is a great example of this dedication. To further community engagement, I believe the city should increase its municipal outreach planning to include non-English and limited-English speaking residents, which constitute about a third of our city’s population.

Three immediate actions that could increase engagement from our multilingual residents are: to meet and personally invite community leaders and property owners to public forums; explain, in residents’ preferred language, the purpose and procedures of formal public meetings; and provide interpretation resources to participate in municipal meetings and forums or to answer questions regarding these matters.

Many of our residents speak English in addition to their native language, but there may be a preference for their native language when discussing technical terminology like zoning ordinances. Realistically, many English speakers may also appreciate additional resources to understand municipal procedures, which is why community outreach and engagement should continue for all residents.

The inclusion of multilingual outreach should be in conjunction with the city’s current plans to increase participation.

Williams: Candidate did not respond.