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Name:
Suellen Lopez
What office are you seeking?
Coral Township Trustee
What is your political party?
Republican
What is your current age?
54
Occupation and employer:
Elementary School Principal, employed by Marengo-Union School District #165
What offices, if any, have you previously held?
Current Coral Township trustee, no previous offices held.
City:
Born and raised in Union and continue to reside in Union.
Campaign Website:
no
Education:
Bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University. Master of arts in Curriculum & Instruction from Concordia University. Master of arts in educational administration from Concordia University.
Community Involvement:
Board member, Marengo Area Schools Education Foundation. Secretary, Church Council (St. John’s United Church of Christ), formerly a board member and volunteer with the Marengo Settlers’ Days Committee. Volunteer with the Marengo Park District.
Marital status/Immediate family:
Married for 24 years with 5 children.
Questions:
What is your stance on township consolidation as a means of reducing redundancy in local government?
Sharing of services through intergovernmental cooperation is certainly a way to allow for more efficiency, but consolidation removes the “voices” of the stakeholders and that is what township government was originally designed to do - “provide people with a direct voice in grassroots government”.
Does the township have adequate funds for needed roadwork? If not, what would you do to address that?
Coral Township has one of the lowest tax rates, so available funds for large scale and costly projects such as road paving are lacking. The handful of part-time employees of Coral Township have done an amazing job of prioritizing roadwork projects and sharing services/equipment in order to save costs. It will take creative solutions such as these and a good hard look at economic inequalities across the county to address budget constraints.
What are your top three priorities for the township, and how do you plan to address them?
- Maintain the rural character of Coral Township and allow for “smart” growth as it aligns with the current Land Use Plan and standards.
- Continue to operate within a balanced budget and explore creative, cost saving opportunities.
- Rapidly expanding solar farms and the potential for negative impacts. Trustees and members of the planning committee will continue to monitor approved solar farms.
How will you ensure that city policies promote inclusion for all residents?
Continue to communicate transparently through social media (website, Facebook). Our current trustees do an excellent job maintaining and updating the website and keeping residents informed through Facebook posts.
Do you support requiring government officials to publicly disclose potential conflicts of interest, and how would you enforce this?
Potential conflicts of interest would be important to disclose, but what exactly are those conflicts and are officials even aware of just what those potential conflicts might be? Public officials are required to complete a “statement of economic interest”, possibly completing an annual “statement of potential conflicts of interest” or adding this to the list of training and compliance requirements would be ways to both educate and enforce.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
In today’s world, members of public offices are only a simple “google search” away from being accessible. If a community member chooses to run/hold a public office, then you had better be prepared and willing to be accessible.