Election 2013: Martin McGill

Campaign Info

• Position Sought: Orland Fire Protection District Board of Trustees
• Website:
• Email: martymcgill@yahoo.com
• Phone:
• Hometown: Orland Hills

Personal Info

• Family: Mary Ellen, wife.
• Education: High school, paraprofessional certificate from D204 Joliet West.
• Occupation: 31 years with IDOT, retired.
• Political Party Affiliation: Non-partisan

Candidate Questions

Why are you seeking office? 

There still is some unfinished business I think we can do. My main reason is I am 100 percent against privatization of ambulances and 110 percent against closing any of the fire stations. We have resources that we haven’t started to tap into. One is the training facility. We’ve talked about setting up EMS classes with other departments and districts and it hasn’t developed the way I’d like to see it. We have one of the better maintenance facilities and we could take revenue in from that by taking work from other fire districts and departments instead of them sending out to others contractors. Thee board has talked about cutting money and only way to do so is to cut firehouses. We’re not paying taxes for fly by night services.

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected? 

I want the district to maintain our present level of services without raising taxes.

What sets you apart from other candidates? 

I’m the senior trustee. I know a great deal how the fire district functions.

What are the biggest challenges facing the district? How do you propose to solve them? 

Maintaining services while tapping into the resources on hand to keep service at the high level it is at, all without raising taxes. We can do that by looking into offering our maintenance and training facilities to other districts and departments.

How do you propose keeping a tighter budget that lessens the burden on taxpayers, while giving staff the tools to do their job, especially as the population ages? 

This ties into creating revenue within our own district in the ways I described. We also need to watch wasteful spending that goes on.  

Does the current board engage in enough debate and discussion before voting? 

No. I’d like to see the committee meetings coming back prior to the board meetings. I’d like to learn more about what is coming up for a vote before we make the final vote. I have asked questions before about items and not gotten the answers I was looking for.

In December, the board approved issuing a $26.7 million in general obligation bonds to cover 100 percent of its pension liability. State funding is drying up, but the district was already able to cover 73 percent of its obligation, which is considered a healthy percentage. Do you agree with this course of action? Who or why not? If not, what could be done differently? 

I feel that it was the right course of action. It was a wise decision.

In 2012, the district hired 11 new firefighters to cover several spots left vacated due to several instances, including injuries, resignations and leveraged removals. Do you agree with adding more personnel to reduce burn out and reduce overtime costs? Why or why not? 

I was a big advocate of that for the hiring. We gave them temporary employment, but that was put on hold when the new board took over. We’re lucky we weren’t sued over it. It cuts overtime and for the first five to seven years we’ll be saving more money, because they came in at a lower pay scale. Overtime has been cut down already. We actually needed 16, but only hired 11.

Have you ever been charged with a crime? Were you convicted? If yes, please say what the charge was, and what was the case's outcome as it stands. 

No.

Are there any candidates in other races you would like to endorse here? 

Glenn Michalek, Michael Carroll for D135 board.