FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How long have you lived in Franklin?
Our family has owned our Franklin home since 2010. I moved to Franklin in 2015 when my wife and I decided to make Franklin our home.
What prompted you to run and what in your professional, civic, and community experience qualifies you for the position?
While attending multiple lengthy city meetings, my eyes were opened to the lack of transparency and truth provided to the taxpaying citizens. I witnessed favoritism, lack of professionalism, and disrespect for alternative opinions. Important decisions impacting residents are often made behind closed doors, out of the watchful public eye subverting the government process. The heavy sense of disappointment resulted in asking questions and after receiving limited information, I exercised the right to open records. In the process, I’ve reviewed internal emails and other documents from the city. Each as eye-opening as attending meetings.
As a Systems Analyst, working for one of the top ten rated healthcare systems in the nation, I work with a variety of people. Each having different backgrounds and political beliefs. We collaborate to find solutions to complex healthcare problems in a world that is constantly changing. Under detailed guidelines, I handle multiple IT tasks and projects, including urgent break/fix requests to keep clients moving taking financial and downstream impacts into consideration. I was given personal responsibility for building, tracking, and working with several application teams to implement technological configurations to accommodate and maximize workflow efficiency of lab collection, performance and reporting to public health departments. My position allows me to understand the importance of following procedures, avoiding errors, thereby saving money.
I was a founding member and the past Executive Director, (prior to my current membership role) of the non-profit group, Franklin Community Advocates (FCA). My input toward FCA’s mission statement, reflects the ethics, morals, and characteristics I will uphold when serving as Alderman.
Franklin Community Advocates is committed to working within our community and beyond to bring about change through:
Upholding Integrity in decisions that impact community health, environment and/or natural resources
Holding elected officials accountable by advocating for transparency and ethical behavior
Connecting and communicating with others to improve quality of life now and preserve it for future generations).
A strong sense of urgency to provide honest, fair and open public process propelled me to get involved. I want to improve the way our city government runs and serve as a channel for constituents to understand their rights and options during the development process. I believe my passion, work ethic and analytical skills qualify me to serve our city and to contribute to the necessary changes for quality, planned growth.
How Are You Funding Your Campaign?
My campaign is a self-funded and supported by local grassroots donors - not PAC's.
What do you see as the major issues facing your district and how would you address them?
The current system of opportunistic development over sound planning, the disregard for citizen concerns, special treatment of some developers over others has built a lack of trust and short focus toward resident’s needs. It has also landed the city in court on multiple occasions to explain and justify reasoning behind each of us paying for their mistakes, oversight and errors. Franklin officials should realize its land is the city’s greatest resource. Containing most of the remaining area for growth in Milwaukee County, the focus needs to be on quality businesses, redevelopment of outdated stores near 76th Street, taking a closer look at the future of Rawson Avenue to support the Sendik’s area. Filling farmland without consideration of the cost and strain on our public services (DPW, Police, Fire), is a plan that will fail to reduce our taxes or keep our community safe.
An active Quarry consumes a square mile of land in District 5. The quarry has been a concerning and contentious issue for some time. The lack of disclosure to home buyers with its less than helpful regulations were passed long before my wife and I moved into our home. The documents and city leaders have failed to recognize that with each of their ongoing expansion approvals, the blasting gets closer to residents and their homes. As blasting edges closer, noise and dust complaints have increased. The city’s solution has been to treat these complaints differently than that of other businesses. Typically, a business with a high number of complaints can be taken to task as a nuisance but the selective process has no method of accountability. I would work to create a fair process and vote to remove the special processes that skirt laws and holds other important businesses and residents to higher standards.
What steps has the police department taken and/or should it take concerning officer training, response to 911 calls, standard equipment, and use of force?
As a former first responder and State of Wisconsin Certified Firefighter, I believe training is vital to being successful in any role, but even more crucial when it comes to the responsibility of being a police officer.
Having the knowledge and skills to act and perform in alignment with code of conduct under pressure is not something that comes easy. I feel that a combination of technical, practical, and soft skills is essential to development and training of law officers that swear themselves to Serve and Protect. That responsibility should be one that assesses mental stability and fitness for the job. I believe that no citizen is above the law and when the law is broken by citizens, police officers or city officials, they should be held accountable. This includes use of force. I am confident in our Police Chief’s training decisions, and I would support his requests for these other important safety items useful in reducing conflicts that cause community discourse and division.
I also want to share that Franklin’s Fire Department is now the only one in Milwaukee County where the firefighters are also trained paramedics. I fully support more of this type of proactive thinking and funding for police and fire resources to capitalize on cutting edge technology and measures to help save lives and keep our public servants safe.
How do/would you encourage civic engagement in your community?
I encourage citizens to look at opportunities that exist to serve on Boards and Commissions of the City. Currently, vacancies reside on the following City of Franklin Boards, Commissions, or Committees: Civic Celebrations Commission, Community Development Authority, Economic Development Commission, Finance Committee, Parks Commission, Personnel Committee. More information can be found on the City of Franklin’s website at: https://www.franklinwi.gov/Departments/Elected-Officials/Boards-Commissions.htm
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As a former Executive Director and current member of a local community group, I also encourage others to join Franklin Community Advocates (FCA) whose mission below can be found on their webpage (https://www.franklincommunityadvocates.org):
Franklin Community Advocates is committed to working within our community and beyond to bring about change through:
Upholding Integrity in decisions that impact community health, environment and/or natural resources.
Holding elected officials accountable by advocating for transparency and ethical behavior.
Connecting and communicating with others in an effort to improve quality of life now, and preserve it for future generations
Should any projects arise involving my vote, I’m confident I can understand if ethics would be a concern and act appropriately.
I will always do my best to make myself available for constituents and encourage residents to contact me and use written notices on items of interest.
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Why Are You Part of an Organization With A Legal Challenge Against the City?
I’m passionate about the City of Franklin and committed to our city's future. After seeing some questionable practices with long-term implications, myself and others formed a non-profit community group to promote transparency in city government. I was the Executive Director and founding member of Franklin Community Advocates. FCA, as a last resort, entered legal action to force the City to address questionable decisions of public record. While I am no longer the point person for FCA, the citizens group continues their work and fundraising to make sure the due process rights of our citizenry are not violated.
As FCA's Legal Challenge progressed, and a clear picture emerged of governmental practices, a strong sense of urgency compelled me to run for Alderman as the best route to promote positive changes. A general description of what the court case revealed concerning delinquent Franklin governmental procedure follows.
Habitually, Franklin elected officials speak in favor of projects before getting or understanding all the facts. This subverts the Public Hearing process and creates an expectation of approval before any due process is initiated. This is government pre-empting citizen’s rights to have a voice in the fate of their community.
Then, once public review is initiated, documents surface that are not part of the record or available for public view. This practice violates the open records law and turns government decisions into private, closed-door processes.
The result is proposals that violate open government and city planning procedures while removing the voice of the community.
FCA’s involvement has not been the first example in which the court has agreed with citizen’s perspective of this delinquent process. But still, there are social media profiles working on behalf of those subverting the process in order to distract attention from the truth of what is happening to our community.
Certain elected officials are discarding years of publicly funded plans composed by professionals and approved by the taxpayers. Questionable developments are continuing to be pushed forward against the Master Plan and public opinion. It is significant that nearly all the professionals responsible for our well-conceived plans have moved on under the current regime. Continued incoherent development has yet to strengthen our neighborhoods or yield a city community center.
It’s time to stop paying for mistakes and deliberate oversights covered up by a handful of the regime’s mouthpieces, amplified by over-posting on social media. I pledge to use my advocacy and business experience to ensure honesty and transparency for the Franklin taxpayers.
Is There a Conflict of Interest Running For Alderman While Simultaneously Being A Member of a Non-Profit 501c3 Community Group?
There is no restriction or rule saying that a member of a non-profit Community Group cannot run for political office. The rules do prohibit a 501c3 from supporting or promoting people for political positions including funding.
Although I have not been involved with fundraising for FCA since February of last year, I am aware that FCA has raised funding in order to make sure the due process rights of our citizenry are not violated. In addition, thousands of volunteer hours have gone into trying to rectify some of the blatant wrongs that have become commonplace in our local government.
What Is the Current Status of FCA's Legal Challenge?
The State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Circuit Court (Case No. 20-CV-7031) is still ongoing.
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More information can be found on FCA's Website.
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Where Can I Find More Info on Your Background?
More info regarding my work history, education and more can be found on my LinkedIn Page.
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