Rob Sherman for Village Clerk

Rob Sherman for Village Clerk
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Meeting Minutes that reveal, not conceal

The incumbent provides Meeting Minutes that say, "Board discussion ensued. Staff answered questions." That doesn't tell you anything. Do we really want Minutes that say, "We talked. Then we went home."?

Here's what former Trustee Lisa Stone said about my concerns regarding the incumbent's Minutes: "Her minutes are a complete joke. You happen to be right on the money."

Here are two examples:

The Minutes for a three-hour meeting on September 27, 2010, consist of two pages. Instead of revealing which Trustees want to raise your taxes and which don't, the Minutes merely say, "Board discussion ensued. Staff answered questions." You will never know, from reading the incumbent's Minutes, which Trustees want to raise which taxes and which Trustees opposed doing so.

The Minutes of a two-and-a-half hour meeting on October 25, 2010, consist of one page. Numerous brilliant ideas were presented by high school students to solve a community problem. The students must have spent many hours formulating their fabulous concepts, but the Minutes merely state that the students "presented the ideas that they have come up with to deal with the topic" and that the students "presented their findings to the Board and answered questions from Trustees." You will never know, from reading the incumbent's Minutes, who the students were or what the great ideas were that they presented. Their great ideas are all lost, forever, flushed down the Village Hall toilet, thanks to an incumbent Village Clerk who couldn't be bothered with providing Minutes that reveal, rather than conceal, because she thinks that she owns the job of Village Clerk.

I will provide Minutes that tell you who said what about issues on the agenda. When there are proposals to raise your taxes, as there were at the September 27th meeting, I will tell you which Village Trustees supported the tax increase and why, as well as which Trustees opposed it and why.

It will be up to you to decide which Trustees are right and which are wrong on the controversial issues of the day, but you can't do that if the Minutes conceal what they say, rather than reveal what they say. Unfortunately, the incumbent feels that the job of Village Clerk is to protect government from the people. I see the job of Village Clerk as protecting the people from the government.

When there is an outstanding student forum with lots of great ideas presented, as there was on October 25th, I will actually tell you what those ideas were, and who presented them, rather than blow it all off by merely saying, "Students formed groups and presented ideas." That's it? How dare the incumbent Village Clerk snub our children in that way?

Maintaining sensitive information, not losing it

The incumbent lost a copy of the audio tape of an Executive Session. She doesn't know what happened to it, only that it's gone.

Having owned my own businesses since 1977, I have over three decades of experience in keeping track of important documents. You just can't be losing things when you have responsibility to others in your organization.

I will maintain tight control of documents. They won't get lost under my watch, because I take document control seriously and I have the experience to succeed in keeping things from getting lost.

Controlling the keys to Village Hall, not losing them

The incumbent lost her keys to Village Hall, didn't report the loss and never got the locks at Village Hall changed. Anybody who found the keys and knew that they belonged to the incumbent (such as if she left the keys on a table where workers who were present knew that the person who lost them was the Village Clerk) could take the keys, use them to gain access to Village Hall and compromise a lot of sensitive and security information, such as home addresses of employees (such as police officers) and credit card or checking account information of residents (who provided that info to pay for such things as water bills or annual fees).

As a prominent public figure for three decades, I think about security every moment of every day. Keeping keys and other valuable assets secure is a way of life for me. I've never lost my keys. You just can't do that when there is so much at stake.

You won't have to worry about keys to Village Hall floating around with Rob Sherman in charge of the keys, and if something were to happen to my keys, I sure wouldn't wait around to see if somebody breaks in to Village Hall with them. I'd take immediate action to mitigate any problem, rather than ignore the problem and hope nothing bad happens, as the incumbent did.

Innovative new programs

The incumbent has made it clear that she is just coasting ... doing as little as necessary to get by and get her paycheck. (It's $6,000 per year.) I will come up with and implement new programs that are appropriate to the Village Clerk's office, at little or no cost to the taxpayers. Here are some examples:

Good government fair: Almost nobody runs for public office in Buffalo Grove because the hurdles to get on the ballot are so high. I needed to get between 238 and 381 Nominating Petition signatures just to get on the ballot (eventually getting 347 signatures), and the period for circulating the petitions was during frigid weather. That's nuts, so here's what I'll do about it: During each period when Nominating Petitions are being circulated, once a month I'll hold a Good Government Fair in the Village Hall Boardroom, where all candidates will be invited, for maybe 3 hours on a Saturday and maybe two hours on a weeknight, to be present to gather those signatures and answer questions from voters. That way, voters can easily support worthy candidates and worthy candidates can much more easily get the signatures they need to get on the ballot. I'd even find local businesses to sponsor refreshments, with the dual purpose of introducing their businesses to lots of local residents at a nominal cost.

Information exchange events: Whether it's networking for jobs or social issues, business introduction fairs or other information exchanges, the Village Clerk could put on these types of events to bring residents together throughout the year. Village Clerk can be a job where you facilitate a lot of information exchange through events, both at Village Hall and at other locations around the Village.

Train my successor: The incumbent has been Village Clerk for 32 years, but hasn't trained anybody to take her place by running for her office when she retires. One of the first thing that I will do is recruit one or two people to learn the business so that I can retire in four, eight or twelve years while knowing that there is somebody well-trained to take my place.

Web site utilization: The incumbent makes little use of the Village Clerk web site to provide residents with information. I would increase the use of the web site to provide info, such as:

The names of residents who have publicly declared for municipal elective office, and which office.

Links to the web sites of candidates for municipal office, just like the State Board of Elections does.

The names of candidates who have filed for elective office, when they have filed and which office they are running for.

Passport processing: This is a service that many people need. The Office of Village Clerk should do this.

American flag disposal: Worn out flag? It should be disposed of properly. The Village Clerk should make this service available to residents.

Notary services: People need this service all the time. The Village Clerk could do this, too.

These are just a few, quick examples of what an innovative Village Clerk could do. As you can see, an involved and competent Village Clerk could make a real difference and improve the quality of life in Buffalo Grove.

Lets take back our government so that it works for us, rather than against us.

If you support my candidacy, I'm NOT asking you for a campaign contribution (wow!). Simply tell your friends and neighbors that you support my candidacy and that they should, too.

Remember, I'm not running to promote opinions on any controversial topic. I'm not running to endorse, promote or condemn anybody's perspective about religion. This is a free country. You believe what you want about religion and I'll do the same. However, with me as the elected official, the Office of Buffalo Grove Village Clerk will not be taking sides on the issue of religion. Religion is irrelevant to the job of Village Clerk and will remain so, with me as Village Clerk.

I'm running to provide a technical service in a professional and competent manner. That's all. My opinions on other issues will be irrelevant to those technical services and will not come up.

News stories about the Village Clerk election

2011

Wednesday, April 6: Hundreds say "Sirabian must go!"

Monday, April 4: Village Clerk's race comes down to how much you trust government

Friday, April 1: Indian Trails Library not worthy of receiving additional tax dollars

Th, 3/31: Sherman files complaint with Board of Elections to void Indian Trails Library tax increase referendum

Fri, March 25: Sirabian: "You're unfit for office if you don't believe everything government says is true"

Sunday, March 20: Incumbent desperate to be "Village Clerk for Life"

Saturday, March 19: Unprofessional Buffalo Grove Village Clerk confesses to management by temper tantrum

Thursday, March 10: Dirty Tricks Jan attempts to sabotage efforts to protect health of BG residents

Sunday, March 6: Village Clerk fails to keep confidential e-mail from public

Wednesday, February 23: Village Clerk rips Buffalo Grove residents for not turning out to vote