Voters in Salem Lakes have a contested race for village trustee on the spring election ballot.
Appearing on the April 7 ballot will be:
- Steven Dunn Jr.
- Dennis Faber, an incumbent
- Adam Miller
- Amanda Procknow
- Kerry Verenski
- James Woodke
Three, at-large seats will be filled.
Two other incumbents, Bill Hopkins and Ron Gandt, did not run for re-election.
The individuals with the three highest vote totals will be elected to the three seats to be filled. Voters will be able to cast three votes.
The same questionnaire was submitted by westofthei.com to each candidate by email.
Here is their biographical information followed by their question responses, presented in alphabetical order:
Steve Dunn Jr — Age: 45; Education: High school graduate (Wilmot Union High School); Occupation: Business owner (truck/heavy equipment repair & trucking); Previous elected or appointed public office: None
Dennis Faber — Age: No response. Education: Riverview Grade, Wilmot High, KTI, Associate Degree in Marketing and University of Wisconsin (UWSP) & DNR & Wisconsin Lakes Partnership, Graduate Lake Leaders Institute; Occupation: Semi-retired, Sales and Marketing Consulting; Previous elected or appointed public office: Village of Salem Lakes Trustee, Town of Salem Supervisor, appointed VOSL Kenosha County Multi-Jurisdiction Advisory Committee Voting Member, Village of Salem Lakes Board of Review, Camp, Center Lake Rehabilitation District, Voltz Lake Management District, Town of Salem Board of Appeals Chairman, Former Secretary, Silver Lake Sportsman’s Club and Trap League
Treasurer.
Adam Miller — No response received.
Amanda Procknow — Age: 37; Education: Bachelors of Science; Occupation: Operations Manager; Previous elected or appointed public office: none.
Kerry Verenski — Age: 52; Education: Some College; Occupation: Business Owner; Previous elected or appointed public office: None.
James Woodke — Age: 66; Education: Northern Illinois University – BS Economics; Occupation: Retired; Previously elected or appointed public office: Town of Salem Incorporation Committee, Antioch Emergency Management Agency Damage Assessment Coordinator for 20 years.
1.) Why are you the best candidate for village trustee?
Dunn — I have owned my own business for over 25 years. While the running of a village is not exactly the same as running a business, there are similarities in the skills involved. I believe in setting goals, fiscal responsibility, and working with people to address challenges that may present. I understand the importance of balancing wants and needs. When I don’t understand something or need more information, I’m not afraid to reach out and ask questions or do some research. I also have a lot of experience managing employees. Finally, I have been attending as many village board, plan commission, and Economic Development Committee meetings as possible in order to stay up to date on the issues presenting and being made for the village. When I am not able to attend in person, I watch the recorded meetings online. I am well connected to members of the community of Salem Lakes as well as our neighboring municipalities.
Faber — Let me describe my qualifications as one of the best choices for being re-elected as a trusted, knowledgeable candidate for one more term as a trustee by saying the following: Our village is virtually a bedroom community, quiet, safe and rural with fun lakes and proud hamlets, Salem, Silver Lake, Wilmot, Trevor, Camp Lake and neighborhoods that date back to 1842 with my family being part of it since the 1800’s. Today our village’s assessed value is over $2,355,000,000, third largest in the county. I am extremely grateful that our citizens have trusted me since 2003 to make decisions that have gotten us to where we are today. Rated AA financially, and by law our debt could be approximately $120,000,000, but is, less than $20,000,000, 84% under what could be allowed. In all those years our mill rate (tax dollar each one thousand dollars of assessed property value) has NEVER gone over $4.00 per thousand. Since 2014 neighbor’s mill rates have been as high as $7.26 in Paddock Lake, $6.42 Bristol, $8.30 Twin Lakes, $6.07 Village of Somers, in summary, if your property were in those communities your village tax would have been higher. Over these years I have had a successful track record of being frugal in budgeting, while respectfully working with neighboring municipalities, lake organizations, the county, the DNR and securing many thousands of dollars’ in DNR grants. If re-elected, as the longest serving member of our elected officials, I look forward to passing on my expertise and experience to our new Administrator, new trustees and AI development as I am sure history will be an important ingredient for our village’s future good.
Miller — No response received.
Procknow — My agenda is this: to help maintain the Village’s success. I enjoy living and working in the Village and I believe that my experience can help the Village grow.
Verenski — I bring a strong commitment to serving our community. My experience in problem solving, communication, and fiscal responsibility comes from years as a business owner. I understand financial management, relationship-building, and strategic decision-making…I am deeply committed to the well being of our community and will bring that same dedication to village leadership.
Woodke — I’m a Retired Airline Pilot – Critical thinking, making decisions after analyzing facts. I often had to work with many people of various job descriptions to make the flight operate safely and on time. Not only can I get the job done right, I’m good at working with others to get things done right. I’m a candidate because I care about the Village, not because I want to have influence that would personally benefit my family or myself. Previously the CFO for an international corporation managing a large escrow fund. Faculty for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation – Certified Instructor. Damage Assessment Coordinator for the Antioch Emergency Management Agency for 20 years. Town of Salem – Incorporation Committee – To explore the Costs and Benefits of becoming a Village. My specialty was to identify ways to become a Village, and the expenses associated with it. Resident of Salem since 2005 – over 20 years. Attended most of the Town Board and Village Board meetings and most Fire Commission meetings and Economic Development Commission meetings.
2.) What do you see as the chief issues faced by the Village Board and how would you address them if elected?
Dunn — 1. Getting our budget in order. I believe there is unnecessary spending in certain areas and I am already trying to look into this. Nobody wants higher taxes, so we need to find ways to manage our funds wisely and strategically. We need to explore ways to share costs with our neighboring communities. I also want to look at the village’s bid process and see if changes can be made to ensure we are getting good prices on equipment and infrastructure improvements. 2. Getting our zoning ordinances in order. If we want to promote smart development and provide opportunities for community businesses to be successful, we need to make sure our zoning ordinances are in order. The current ordinances need to undergo a comprehensive review to make sure there aren’t any inconsistencies in the village’s building and zoning requirements, and to consider if the ordinances reflect what the community wants and needs are for improvements and possible developments. The board has already approved the hiring of a third-party agency to go through the ordinances. I want to make sure this project moves forward. I would also like to see what the community response is to any suggestions/recommendations made by the third-party reviewers. 3. Getting our building department running more efficiently so applications are processed in a timely fashion. Unnecessary delays in the planning and zoning process can create unnecessary expenses for those applying for building/zoning permits. Our staff need to be well-versed in our ordinances and the planning/zoning process. They also need to follow up on inquiries promptly. I would like to see the village bring the building department back under our roof instead of continuing to contract with the county. 4. Improve government transparency and promote community engagement. We need to minimize the number of closed session meetings. We need to allow commenting on the village’s Facebook page. Residents and stakeholders want and need to be heard.
Faber — There are candidates who will say “Lowering Taxes” “Transparency” and “Getting the public involved” are their chief issues and naturally these are very important to me as well, but today another “chief Issue,” is regaining respect for our elected officials, staff and our village. Virtually everyone I have been elected to serve with since 2003 had the best interest in making The Town of Salem and Village of Salem Lakes a safe, great, affordable place to live and raise a family. And the proof is: in my opinion, that we have done a commendable job as in the last two years homes assessed values based on actual sales of like properties have in some cases risen by almost 30%. People want to live here, and after the pandemic at virtually any price. I know from being on our Board of Review, in a couple cases lake property sold in bidding wars, that even our updated real estate assessment value was a couple hundred thousand dollars less than what was paid for the property. Our residents elect people to make informed decisions. Many of those citizens
don’t want to get involved, they want me to make decisions on their behalf that will positively affect most of our community, not a few special interest individuals. They realize that most of their real estate tax goes to schools and only from 18% to 25% goes to the village. Another chief issue is the reality that since we became a village, inflation reduced the value of the dollar approximately 30% and our Village tax levy only increased a little over 9% and squeezing waste out of our budget was not going to add enough dollars to pave roads and re-furbish one of our fire trucks this year. The state passed a law in 2005 to stop out of control tax increases some municipalities were making, that law says our tax levy can only increase by the annual percent of net, new construction. That net, new construction totaled approximately $20,000,000 last year which only added about $64,000 to our tax levy. This small increase in our levy finally caught up to us, and we had to borrow $1.9 million on a one-year note this year to pave roads and re-furbish one of our fire trucks. The good news is, we will pay back that loan this year saving on interest and our
mill rate (again, the dollars you pay for every, one thousand dollars of assessed property value) only increased $0.23 or from just $2.95 to $3.18 per thousand. Third lowest mill rate since we became a village. Our town now a village, dates back 184 years. Yet nowhere in our Village Hall will you find the names of the individuals who have dedicated ten, twenty, even thirty years of services to this community. That should give us a pause. Because today stepping forward to serve isn’t just about commitment, it’s about courage. In an era of anonymous blogs, group texts, and online commentary, one unpopular decision can quickly turn into accusations, distorted facts, and mistruths. Too often that criticism becomes personal, eroding trust not only in those who serve, but in the very people who keep our village running day to day. Knowing all this, anyone willing to step up deserves not so much scrutiny, but rather respect.
And maybe it’s time we start remembering those who serve, not just when they’re criticized but for the years, they’ve given to all of us. The next “chief Issue” of importance to me is our Lakes including the Fox River. They are the reason people settled here. Most of our hamlets are named after them. Silver Lake. Camp Lake, Center Lake, Hooker Lake, Montgomery Lake, Cross Lake, Voltz Lake, Rock Lake and Lake Shangri-La. Wilmot was founded because of trade traveling on the Fox River. Our village is rightly named because, of all municipalities in Southeast Wisconsin, the Village of Salem Lakes, has the highest number of individual lakes. As an elected official for the former town and now village we rarely have received any residential complaints about them, other than access. People complain they cannot get to use certain lakes because there is no access or not enough available parking. It is terrible that we do have some residents who think certain lakes belong only to them. I recently heard a couple people from Rock Lake say, “Rock Lake Isn’t broken”. Wrong, all our lakes are drainage or drained lakes. They get their water from runoff which positively contains contaminants, Rock Lake gets a large amount all the way from Antioch Illinois. Just because the
water clarity might be clear, it doesn’t mean bad chemicals are not in them. Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) affect their recreational acreage, fish habitat and when that invasive vegetation dies it decays and not only smells bad but consumes oxygen in the water and can kill fish. Algae blooms can poison pets and affect the health of adults and children. AIS is in every one of our lakes, it got there not only from visiting boats but waterfowl, Muskrats and Beavers. If AIS isn’t managed, it can virtually make a whole lake or parts of it unusable. Wisconsin Law: “The Public Trust Doctrine” is the basis for the legal rule that all navigable waters are “common highways and forever free”. However, it is up to lake users to use them sensibly, Lake Associations, Lake Districts to manage and rehabilitate them and the village to pass, ordinances that make them safe for everyone. Our village needs representation that is experienced, knowledgeable, dedicated and always available. I have that experience, dedication and reputation and am committed to passing along these traits to our new administrator, two new trustees, as well as helping our lakes and keeping the Village of Salem Lakes a safe, affordable, great place to live and raise a family. Thanks again for your support.
Miller — No response received.
Procknow — Our tax levy needs to be raised. The way that the Village operates currently, which is still within our means, will not be sustainable in the future. Everything in life will become more expensive, we need to prepare for that and make smarter moves with development and stop overspending in some areas. We need to work as a team along with the employees at the Village to make the best decisions for 100% of the Village and not just certain areas. I would also like to see more community events throughout the year. The events we have currently are great but it would be better if we could produce more.
Verenski — I believe open communication and active listening are essential. By seeking input from residents, business owners, and community stakeholders, and by considering long-term impacts. I will ensure decisions reflect the best interests of our entire community. Transparency and engagement will remain central to my approach.
Woodke — First: Restore Public Confidence in Village Board. By clearly identifying the Village Boards Objectives and Goals to the Village Residents. If you don’t have a strategic plan, how are you going to achieve what you want to?
Second: Provide Information and Education to the Village Residents. Explaining where the Board believes they are, what direction they want to go and how they plan at achieve the Objectives and Goals the Village Board has clearly identified to the Village Residents. Explain why and how things must be done. Because laws, ordinances and
reasons may not be obvious to the Residents. Third: Identify creative ways to increase Revenues and decrease Expenses where we can. At the current pace, our Expenses are greater than the Revenues. Our choices are to increase Revenues and/or Decrease Expenses and/or Borrow money. The Tax Levy increase is based on the increase of Growth/Development. If there is no Development, the Village cannot raise the Levy. If the Village can’t the Levy, the Revenues stay flat. The first thing we need to do is examine all the expenditures. Looking at everything in the budget and prioritize every expenditure. Ranking them by Highest Priority (Life Safety) to Lowest Priority (paper towels and soap). Then we see where we can make cuts to save money. Somethings we can’t cut, Life Safety (Fire/EMS/Law Enforcement). That doesn’t mean there isn’t money to be saved in the highest priority items. There are some things we shouldn’t cut or reduce because lives depend on it. Everything else that is not related to Life Safety will have to be considered for a reduction in planned spending. The Village would need to reduce spending by approximately 20% if we don’t want to rely on Debt/Borrowing. If we don’t want to reduce spending, then we will have to rely on Debt/Borrowing. Low interest rates could make that less painful, if interest rates rise it will be more painful. Additional Debt is only a temporary solution to a long term problem, until Expenditures do not exceed Revenues.
