2025 Election Questionnaire: Mike Lesperance, Nunda Township Highway Commissioner

Name: Mike Lesperance

What office are you seeking? Nunda Township Highway Commissioner

What is your political party? Republican

What is your current age? 62

Occupation and employer: Nunda Township Highway Commissioner, Nunda Township

What offices, if any, have you previously held? Precinct Committeeman, Highway Commissioner

City: Oakwood Hills

Education: Graduated High School, 1 year of College, 40 years of construction experience, 12 years of semi-annual Townships of Illinois Training Seminars, OSHA Training Certifications, AED & CPR & First Aid Certifications

Community Involvement: I am a fourth generation Eagle Scout and a life long supporter of Scouting. I helped found a private school in Wauconda and served as the Chairman of the Board and Superintendent. The school was never in debt. After Huricane Katrina, 40 or so of my friends and family built a modular house in my personal shop and delivered it to one Miss Lilian Rogers in Pealington Mississippi gratis. As a private excavator, I have built and helped build ball fields all over Lake and Mchenry Counties in most cases for free. I maintain a life long interest and relationship with the Yanamamo Indian tribe of Venezuela through Mission Padamo and my friend Gary Dawson: bringing heavy equipment, operators, and materials to build a sewer system, housing, and a fish farm to supplement their food supply.

Marital status/Immediate family: Wife of 43 years, 3 adult children, 5 grandchildren

Questions:

What is your stance on township consolidation as a means of reducing redundancy in local government?

Township government is the most efficient, cost effective form of government we have. Townships have very little overhead and even less middle management costs. If you are concerned about the number of units of government in Illinois it would be enlightning for everyone to know that about 1/2 of the units of govenment counted are homeowners associations. Redundancy in local government is not the problem, the problem is runaway expenses in our education system. No one wants to have the tough discussions, just keep swinging at the low hanging fruit.

Does the township have adequate funds for needed roadwork? If not,’what would you do to address that?

The Road District, not the Township is responsible for our roads, but yes the road district has sufficient funds to continue it’s current maintenance and reconstruction program, as it is managed today. We currently pave 6-7 miles of roads per season after restoring or improving the drainage and or infrastructure within the right of ways. This means that we can resurface your road about every 15 years. My opponent plans to eliminate our in-house paving crew and bid out 1/2 to 1 mile per year of resurfacing, giving you a 133 year life cycle. The quality of work that our in-house staff produces is second to none.

What are your top three priorities for the township, and how do you plan to address them?

Drainage, drainage, drainage. My idea of leadership is to plan ahead. We have taken the approach of correcting every infrastructure problem or issue before we resurface a road. We are not waiting for the next flood or big rain to lay waste to our community. We are providing ditches, culverts, curbs and or stormsewers and in some cases, lift stations to control flooding of the roads and when possible your properties. Approximately 75% of our roads have received this level of service over the past 12 years. Let’s finish the job.

Do you support requiring government officials to publicly disclose potential conflicts of interest, and how would you enforce this?

A statement of economic interest is required annually to be filled out. It appears rather shallow to me. Perhaps requiring public officials to actually work would be a start. In Illinois, elected officials have no required minimum hours they must work. To qualify for the pention system does require either 600 or 1000 hours to be worked annually depending on which agency you work for. Perhaps we should have higher expectations for our elected officials. Perhaps elected officials should have to quantify what they actually accomplish. Here at The Nunda Township Road District the bar is set high.

How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?

My office hours are 7:00 am - 3:30 pm, Monday thru Friday. Phone 815-459-4410. Our email is Highway@nundaroaddistrict.com