Village Board Election: Bill Lamb Answers Our Questions

PLAINFIELD VILLAGE TRUSTEE ELECTION QUESTIONNAIRE

Name: Bill Lamb (William B. Lamb)

Address: 13431 Lakeshore Drive, Plainfield, IL  60585

E-mail Address: billeileenlamb@aol.com

Age: 73

Marital status: Married

Name of spouse: Eileen Lamb

Name, ages of children: William D. Lamb, 46; Karen Lamb McMillan, 45; Daniel Lipscomb, 30

Education: Doctorate degree, chemical engineering, University of Delaware; master's degree, chemical engineering, University of Delaware; bachelor's degree, science and engineering, Princeton University; high school diploma, Evanston Township High School

Profession and employer: Retired; previous chemical engineer, manager (films business, sales, plant technical, quality, technical service and product development, research and development) for more than 35 years for the DuPont Chemical Co.

Community (non-elected) groups of which you are a member:

Plainfield Economic Partnership, 2005-09

Plainfield Zoning Commission, 2003-05

Lakelands Community Homeowners Association, president, 2001-present

Lakelands Gathered Homes Homeowners Association, president, 2009-present

Previous and current elected political office history:

Appointed Plainfield village trustee, Aug. 15, 2005-April 30, 2007

Elected Plainfield village trustee, May 1, 2007-present

Why are you seeking this office?

Over the last 5½ years, I have been a village trustee who was actively involved in supporting and providing direction to the village of Plainfield staff. My unique corporate management and technical background has proven to be very useful as the village of Plainfield’s management team learned to handle explosive population growth. Then when the economy deteriorated, my DuPont experience in managing change helped the village to downsize efficiently while maintaining the high quality of service demanded by Plainfield residents.

Why should someone choose you instead of those you are running against?

Experience (village trustee 5½ years), demonstrated leadership, corporate management expertise (important because the village of Plainfield is essentially a business that must be run efficiently if the village is to deliver quality services at an affordable cost), engineering background, and broad understanding of all aspects of the village of Plainfield operations.

What do you see as the issues in this election? 

• Has the village of Plainfield made sufficient progress in controlling costs so the current high level of services to residents can be sustained?
• Create an inviting opportunity for economic development in Plainfield that will attract new businesses and encourage existing businesses to expand.
• Continue the planning and grant-seeking efforts that will improve the flow of traffic in and around Plainfield.

What would you like to accomplish if elected to this position?  Please be specific.

• Support the village’s efforts to reorganize employee assignments to improve productivity while providing outstanding service and keeping expenditures under tight control.
• Encourage intergovernmental cooperation with Romeoville (key to the design of Interstate 55 interchanges); Joliet (development of The Boulevard shopping center project); Bolingbrook; local state senate and house representatives; and Plainfield park, library, fire and school districts. Increase involvement with the Will County Center for Economic Development and the Illinois Municipal League.
• Maintain high priority on the transportation infrastructure so that impediments to traffic flow in and around Plainfield can be addressed as quickly as possible.

What is your opinion of the current state of economic development in Plainfield? What should the village board’s role be in terms of encouraging economic development? Are there specific things you would like to see done?

Plainfield was blessed with lots of buildable land, and developers aggressively worked on large-scale attractive residential developments. Industrial and business developments were hampered in part because the road infrastructure was inadequate to move products and people efficiently. The current economy and limited access to financial resources has caused delays in virtually every project.

The village board should direct village staff to place a high priority on attracting businesses by making it easy to work with village planners and inspectors. Also, the board should encourage win-win tax situations that will bolster village revenues and encourage Plainfield business and job growth.

The issue of placing term limits on village board members was broached at a recent board meeting. Should there be a limit? Why or why not?

I personally have no problem with term limits, but I hardly think the Plainfield Village Board is the place to start. The current trustees are elected by all of the voting residents of Plainfield. With this setup, it should be easy to remove a trustee with a very narrow political base. Furthermore, the trustee pay (roughly $4,000 per year) is hardly enough to encourage someone to be a career politician. If someone is good for the village of Plainfield and they choose to devote the time needed to help the village, I suggest that we let them run for trustee regardless of how long they have been in office.

The village has a very high foreclosure rate right now. Is there something the village board should be doing to help people stay in their homes? Why or why not?

While I and the rest of the board would love to be able to help homeowners in distress, there really is very little the village can do. We are focusing on using our available funds to ensure that we deliver the services demanded by our residents and there is no extra money available to help out individual homeowners. While it may not help people stay in their homes, the village is trying to see that residential and business properties are properly maintained by the property owners so that neighbors do not have to live next to an eyesore.

Do you agree with the current efforts to redevelop Plainfield’s riverfront? What is your opinion of the current plan? If you support it, do you believe village tax money should be used for it?

Plainfield is in a unique position. We have a historic downtown and a two-mile stretch along the DuPage River that can be developed into something very special for Plainfield.  If properly done, Plainfield’s riverfront area can end up as an attractive destination for our residents and visitors. The current riverfront plan was put together with considerable public input and Hitchcock Design converted that information into well-conceived concept plan for the two-mile stretch along the river.

Implementation will require a considerable amount of money and time, and both public and private leadership to bring the concept to fruition. I would not support the use of village funds until we have weathered the current economic crisis and rebuilt the village’s monetary reserves to an acceptable level.

Do you support the concept of creating a downtown historic district? Why or why not?

Plainfield’s roots go way back to the mid-1800s and the downtown business area has many buildings well over 100 years old. As a number of these old buildings receive façade improvements, the charming Plainfield of the early-1900s is reappearing. I do support the downtown historic district as it is the best way to preserve a unique part of Plainfield’s history.

I strongly believe that a downtown historic district will benefit both current and future owners of downtown property as property values are likely to increase when preservation guidelines are adopted. However, it is important that these guidelines are implemented by the village staff and the Historic Preservation Commission in a way that assists the property owners in evaluating improvement options while making sure that the approval process is not onerous.