My sincere Thank You to the Village of Carpentersville for allowing me the honor to serve this community for the past four years.

It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn some important things about local government and to meet and work with some wonderful people.

This has been a time in my life that I will not soon forget. Being elected President of Carpentersville would have been one of the last things I would have suspected would happen to me.

I lived the majority of my life in Elgin. Having moved to Carpentersville just 9 years before being elected President was not something I would have predicted when making the move to this Village.

The fact that I did not come to the President’s office in the usual way is telling in itself. I went from resident to president with no stops in between. I hadn’t served on any Village committee’s or had I been a member of the Village board prior to my election to the highest office in Carpentersville. That alone is quite unusual.

When I won in 2005, my plans were to only serve one term. Well that plan seems to have been a good one. I’m very comfortable with the results of the April 7th election. I do have some concerns for the future of Carpentersville. But now it’s up to someone else to deal with those issues. As I leave office I can say that I have made a difference in a positive way in this Village. I have given it my all and now it’s time to move on with my life and do something else that will be equally challenging and rewarding.

Carpentersville is not an easy place to govern. There are some strong willed individuals who have a difficult time with change. Some I would say are stuck in the 1950’s. They refuse to move into the new millennium. Some are short sighted and stubborn and will never except the changes that have come to the Village over the past 30 years.

My real optimism for this Village comes from the youth. While I have been the Village President I have visited most of the schools. What I have seen is some real hope for the future in the faces of those young students. They are the future of this Village and in seeing them I am confident that the future will be bright for Carpentersville. Good things are on their way. A Village that is currently known for its backward thinking and prejudice will bloom into a Village of acceptance and understanding. Our youngsters hold the key to that transition to a better place.

So, with that I say best wishes to the new board and to the people of Carpentersville.

Your time to VOTE is NOW. You have until 7:00 p.m. to cast your vote in the Consolidated Election. Voting is going on right now.

I ask for your support for me Bill Sarto for Re-Election as your Village President and we need the following trustee candidates to provide good solid leadership for Carpentersville:

Re-Elect Linda Ramirez Sliwinski

Elect Joseph R. Haimann

Elect Debra K. Lowen

While some may be considering ending broadcasts of Village Board meetings on Comcast Cable, three candidates are promising greater community access.

Village of Carpentersville President Bill Sarto running for re-election, along with Trustee Candidates Ken Andresen and Debra Lowen, pledged today to make Village Board meetings available on the Internet. Teaming up with former Carpentersville resident and video marketing professional Grant Crowell of ReelSEO.com, their new promise to the Carpentersville community is, if elected, to make board meetings and other important government events all available to the public through YouTube, Google Video, the Village Website, and other video sharing sites.

Current Village President Bill Sarto believes making Village Board meetings, information and events available via web video is vital to open, honest government.  He welcomes the opportunity to open access to more of the community than only those currently served by Comcast Cable broadcasts.

“Grant has really helped the Carpentersville community with making our meetings available to the public through television,” says President Sarto. “I’ve been a strong supporter of open, honest government and the public’s right to know. Grant has helped me understand how important it is for us to move to the next level of technology, and now to provide full video of our board meetings to everyone; not just one part of our community anymore (the one that has Comcast Cable).”

President Sarto has promised his full support to work with Grant, Ken and Deb to get Village backing for improving communication and transparency with residents through web video.

Ken Andresen has spoken about how he and Deb have started using web video already.

“Deb and I are the only candidates in this race who have done anything with web video,” says Andresen. “We know how powerful it can be with getting a message across and reaching out to others. That’s why we’ve already done our own YouTube channel, and put video on our community wiki website. We promise do a lot more if we’re elected, starting with full board meetings on YouTube and Google Video, and anywhere else we can reach our residents – not only to watch, but to comment and participate as well.”

The full press release can be read here.

West Dundee – Carpentersville’s President Bill Sarto, a voting member of the Longmeadow Parkway Task-Force, attended the “Open House” style public hearing on the purposed Longmeadow Parkway Bridge. This bridge plan is designed to be a Tollway Bridge. The cost per trip is  estimated to be $1.00 at “off peak” times and $1.50 per use at “peak” driving times.

President Sarto feels that is too high a price for a river crossing. He feels the bridge would not provide the relief to the other area bridges that it was originally purported to do. President Sarto originally favored the idea, but now finds it more and more difficult to support it.

The toll cost is the deal breaker in my opinion. I fear this will be a bridge that very few will use. It will become a very costly White Elephant. Other funding sources should be considered. I also am concerned for those living nearby to the corridor. Sound proof fencing is too expensive and would add greatly to this project, therefore those houses in the vicinity could be very negatively impacted by this bridge. Even if the bridge is not widely utilized, it very well could be a gravel truck route that would add noise and pollution to the surrounding homes. That would be unacceptable to me.

Early voting for the April 7, 2009 Consolidated Election begins today, Monday, March 16, 2009 and ends on Thursday, April 2, 2009.

Dundee Township voters can vote early at 557 Barrington Ave, Dundee on these dates and times.  

For more information, visit the Dundee Township web site.

Geneva – Yesterday the the Kane County Community Development Block Grant Commission met to recommend funding for the upcoming year.

President Bill Sarto is a member of the CDBG commission. This year Carpentersville was recommended to receive about 25% of the total amount of the $1.6 million the commission had to award.

If approved by the Kane County Board, Carpentersville would get $263,478 to do infrastructure work. This money would go toward the total cost of the Hazard Road, Monroe Avenue and Golfview Lane Project. The total estimated cost of this project is $5,269,573.00 This CDBG funding will give the Village extra money to do other projects in the future.

The Hazard Road, Monroe Avenue and Golfview Lane  project includes Reconstruction of the sanitary sewers, water mains, water services, carriage walk, sidewalk and roadway and create storm sewers, widen turn lanes and install new streetlights and traffic signals.

Carpentersville was also approved for another 2010/2011 reconstruction project for $149,952. That is a total of $413,430.00.

The $149,952.00 will go toward a total cost of the Hickory Drive, Hickory Court and Ash Street project that is estimated to come in about $2,999,044.00. The same type of infrastructure improvements are planned on both projects.

Don’t be surprised if in the coming weeks that you find President Sarto standing at your front door.

Bill Sarto was out on the campaign trail over the weekend. He began his talking tour of the Village. He will be going door to door in every neighborhood over the remained of this campaign.

There is nothing to match face to face communication with the voters. It’s the only way to know what they are thinking. Thus far President Sarto has found the public very responsive to his message. He looks forward to talking with YOU.

Leadership is one of those things that a person either has or doesn’t have. It can’t be taught or learned.

Here is my record as a true leader. While in High School I was made a co-captain of our football team.

When I was 21 years old I registered to vote. I ran for office the very next year as a write-in candidate. As you may know that is a very difficult way to win an elected office. The fact is that if all who attempted to vote for me in that first election had done the write-in process correctly, I would have won. As it was I did get over 600 votes that were counted.

My first real job was with the City of Elgin in the Parks & Recreation Department. I took this job as a part-time summer employee. I was encouraged to stay on full time and within one year had been promoted to the position of “Lead Man” over Lord’s Park. I was also selected by the Parks & Recreation employees and Public Works to represent them in labor negotiations. I helped negotiate better working conditions and higher wages.

My next job was in the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. During my two week training at the Illinois State Police academy in Springfield, IL  I scored the highest grade on one of the written tests to gauge leadership qualities that had ever been recorded. I was hired on as the Assistant Supervisor for the Elgin Driver’s License Facility. Two years later I was promoted to the position of Director of the Schaumburg Driver’s License Facility.

Next I went to work for the Illinois Comptroller’s Office. There I worked as an Auditor for 28 years under 5 different Comptrollers. I worked for both Democratic and Republican Comptrollers. During those years I was elected to the position of Assistant Union Steward and Union Steward. I represented all of the union Comptroller employees in the Chicago office.

I also was elected by my peers to head the Elgin Township Democratic Party at age 32. I later was elected again to head the Kane County Democratic Party at age 35. I ran for Illinois State Comptroller in 1990 at age 38.

I have been in a leadership position all of my life. That is the sign of a true leader. I have many friends and contacts throughout government. Those relationships were formed over many years of dedication and being a leader.

I led the Village through some very difficult days when some on our board wanted to take on illegal immigration as a local issue. I stood firm and that saved our community from lawsuits and other costs that cannot be calculated merely in money.

Carpentersville – The League of Women Voter’s will host a candidates forum on Monday, March 2, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. The forum will be held at Carpentersville’s Village  Hall in the board room.

Village President Bill Sarto will be attending and participating in this event.  

President Sarto welcomes these opportunities to speak directly to the public.

President Sarto has said that he would welcome more of these type of free exchanges of ideas. The public has a right to know where the candidates stand on important issues that face our Village. President Sarto went on to say that he hopes that the room is filled. Bill Sarto has a real plan for the future of our Village. That plan is thoughtful and will provide the residents of Carpentersville with real progress. President Sarto says it’s time to cut through the rhetoric and the political gimmicks and find out who can truly lead this Village into the future.

Carpentersville – On Wednesday evening February 25th, Kane County and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago hosted a Foreclosure Prevention Workshop.

This workshop was the result of Village President Bill Sarto and Kane County Board member Hollie Kissane’s efforts to provide help to our local homeowners who are currently facing foreclosure.

These hard economic times have put a real hardship on many people. Local government must step up and do whatever possible to help these people through these difficult times.  

In many cases it has been the government that has caused or allowed these problems to exist. Because of a lack of oversight on mortgage lenders we have seen some unscrupulous people take unfair advantage of some people who only wanted to be part of the American dream of owning their own home.

Village President Bill Sarto said, It’s my goal to give everyone a chance to save their homes. We must all pull together to help those in trouble. This economic collapse is like any other disaster, our community must help out. This effects all of us in the long run. I feel the pain of our residents and I will do everything in my power to ease that pain.