Election Preview: Sturtevant Village President

Steve Jansen is running for a sixth term as village president in the April 2 election, and Trustee John Johnson is running for Sturtevant's top spot while he also runs to retain his seat on the board (Click on links to see candidate biographies).

To make sure voters head to the polls with the information they need, Patch put together some questions. Here are the candidates' answers in their own words:

Why are you running for Village President?

Jansen: I'm running because I love this Village! I also enjoy the challenges and responsibilty that comes with the position. Our Village is fortunate to have a great board of Trustee's that have the best interest of our Village in mind.

Johnson: I feel the Village should have another choice for Village President. 

What is the biggest issue facing the village, and how would you deal with it, if elected?

Jansen: It comes down to one word, and that's money! It wasn't that long ago our Village was swimming in red ink year after year. Over time we've eliminated our general fund deficit, which was approching $800,000 at the time, to now for the second year in a row we not only retired that deficit, we have ended these past 2 years with a surplus to begin building our undesignated reserve fund. It took along time to better our fiscal position by the board making the tough choices & by being prudent with the taxpayers dollars. It's making the choices of needs over want's within the Villages budget. We've done that & my goal is to continue to do that.

Johnson: The annual Budget. Try to keep the board aware of the continuing fiscal issues with cuts and unfunded mandates from the State and Federal Governments. Remind the trustee that we can only spend each dollar once.

What specifically would you do to attract more businesses - like United Natural Foods - to the village?

Jansen: The world is changing. Today, the Village must be a willing partner in order to recruit and have business's locate within our Village. If you don't take an aggressive approach, these business's will locate elsewhere.

One of the key advantages that our Village has is the power of our TID district which allows for incentive packages to be put together like we did for United Natural Foods. We've done this also with other business's in the past, specifically, Ruud/Cree lighting expantion, Andis Corp, BRP recreational, all in the name of not only job creation but also job retention.

We have the number 1 successful TID district in the State of Wisconsin. Our TID is set to close by 2016, 8 years ahead of schedule because of our success.

Moving forward we will continue to be aggresive when oppurtunity presents itself for job creation & overall economic sustainiblity when it makes sense.

Johnson: Make certain that our zoning and building ordinances are up to date and reflect what the board wants the Village to look like in the future. After we close out TID district, attempt to establish another for future development.

There has been discussion about Mount Pleasant possibly dissolving its contract with Sturtevant for the South Shore Fire Department. If that were to happen, how should Sturtevant provide fire protection services to its residents?

Jansen: I have not been contacted as of this date from anyone from Mount Pleasant in regards to possibly dissolving the contract that created the South Shore Fire department.

If, hypothetically that were to happen, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Being a Village of our size, I'd explore a paid on call department modeled after what Union Grove/Yorkville does in how they provide fire & EMS services.

Johnson: I believe the best solution is to look at the part-time-paid-on-call option. For a Village the size of Sturtevant it just isn't feasible to try and provide a full time paid department on our own.