Wheeling Township Highway Commissioner Candidate: Mike MacDonald

Patch wants to help you get to know your candidates for Wheeling Township highway commissioner.

Mike MacDonald

Age: 56

Family:

Education: BSME Rice University

Occupation: Independent Energy Consultant

Previous elected or appointed offices: None

Position sought: Wheeling Township Highway Commissioner

Political party: Democratic

Campaign E-mail address: wheelingtwpinfo@gmail.com

Campaign Website: Dems4LowerTaxes.com

Campaign Facebook: Wheeling Twp Info

Campaign Twitter: @WheelingTwpInfo 

What is the primary reason you are running for this office? My approach to greater efficiency in government and maximizing resources fit with the voters in Wheeling Township. Having an engineering, scientific and business background has prepared me well for successfully dealing with not just the every-day issues of the Township's 5 1/2 miles of road but also the task of preparing the Township for the time when the Highway Commissioner position should be eliminated.

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?  It would be setting up a long-term schedule of maintenance events that would include recurring seasonal, construction/remediation, and asset maintenance including estimated tax revenue and expenditure. 

All of this would be put into a boilerplate plan that could be used by the Township trustees should they take over the responsibilities of Road and Bridge by legal requirement or through the office being voted out of existence.

What are the top three issues facing Wheeling Township residents? Jobs, property taxes and maintaining the quality of life that brought people to live here.

What sets you apart from the other candidate? I would be able to bring a fresh perspective with an engineering, planning and business background. The Democratic platform calls for reducing layers of government including eliminating the position you are running for. What is your opinion and what would you do toward that effort if elected?

The elected Highway Commissioner has no legal role in determining the continuance of the office.  I take no position on this issue. That said, my Democratic colleagues running for Trustee and Supervisor have declared they will plan a referendum to give residents the right to vote on whether or not to keep the Highway Commissioner position.

They also plan to seek annexation agreements which would decrease the number of road-miles under the township authority. Once a certain minimum threshold is met, state law dictates that the office be abolished. (Savings could come from the elimination of road-miles under township responsibility through annexation by another government entity whose incremental cost would be lower than the Township’s.)

As your Highway Commissioner I would prepare the office for all scenarios to offer taxpayers the most flexibility.

If no neighboring villages agree to annex unincorporated areas -- or the voters decide that Wheeling Township should continue to have a highway commission -- then my experience and knowledge will be assets in overseeing the maintenance of roads in an efficient, fiscally responsible manner.

However, if residents do decide to eliminate the Highway Commission -- whether through referendum or annexation -- the responsibilities of maintaining the remaining township roads would consolidate to the board and the position I am running for would be eliminated.

I plan to prepare the office for that possibility (see above answer to most important priority) as well as attempt to educate the trustees ahead of time what their responsibilities would be so that the transition would be seamless.

Anything else you would like to add? Once elected, I will work with the rest of my colleagues toward a smarter, more efficient Township government with a fresh perspective. Our ideas will only work if we're elected together as a team so I ask you to vote for Fred Arenas, Marc Adelman, Don Bussey, Kim Simmons, Siobhan White, Nikos Tsonis and Bob Boros in addition to myself, Michael MacDonald, for Highway Commissioner. Be sure to be a voter on April 9th!