DeKalb County County Board District 6

Voting will take place Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Voters will be able to select two candidates in this race. The two candidates with the most votes will be elected.

This is a primary. The winner will be their party's nominee for the office.

Click a question below to display the candidates' answers to that question.

What are your top ideas for reducing the cost of running county government?

What is the greatest challenge facing the county today and how do you plan to address it?

What recent county board decision do you most disagree with and why?

Do you support conducting fewer county board meetings during the year?

Is the county board and its business accessible enough to taxpayers?

Do you support the ongoing effort to expand the county jail?

Bob Brown

Democrat | DeKalb

We must hold the line on property taxes. Consequently, county department heads must work to find ways to reduce costs through greater cooperation and by avoiding the duplication of services and equipment. For example, as a member our county board highway committee, I have discussed whether the Highway Department’s road mowing crews could also mow the areas surrounding county buildings, and the economies of using the department’s snow plows to also clear lanes and parking lots in county forest preserves. In addition, at a recent county board meeting I suggested that a county human resources summit be held to identify opportunities for job sharing between departments as well as potential cost savings through better coordination and scheduling of the auto and truck fleet. In short, county government needs to be reviewed and managed more like a single large organization.

Ruth Anne Tobias

Democrat | DeKalb

I feel that there we have been following several small ideas that we are using to reduce county budgets. We can continue the 'green initiative' where employees strive to reduce, recycle, and reuse. The county has already saved many thousands. We continue to put County Board info online, rather than mailing out. We can put more emphasis on encouraging economic development - businesses pay taxes too! We can hold firm on our number of employees and limit salary increases, and we can take advantage of free student assitance from NIU - county board intern and legal assistance. And we can continue the temporary reduction in the county board meeting schedule. We are trying to resist staff reductions and service cuts, while improving efficiency.

Craig Roman

Democrat | DeKalb

The use of locally owned businesses for county business would be improved through the creation of an online directory. Doing so would show all actions the businesses perform and would assist the county in determining which local business could be used first. Keeping in mind a judicious balance of cost-effective selection against local vendors is still key; moreover, eliminate redundancy, streamline processes and create a system that evaluates expenditures on an ongoing basis.