Palatine Township Clerk Candidate: Kathy Allegretti

Palatine Patch will be helping you get to know the candidates for the upcoming special primary for Palatine Township. Meet Palatine Township Clerk candidate, Kathy Allegretti, who will be running against incumbent Lisa Moran.

1) Name, office being sought, professional background, community affiliations, experiences that you feel qualify you to run for this office.

My name is Kathy Allegretti, and I am running for the Clerk of the Palatine Township position. I am a small business owner and have spent 20 plus years in the corporate world in various management roles. There I directed large staffs in providing various customer services. I gained a lot of experience working with people in a business setting. I am detail oriented, organized and successful at working as part of a team to achieve results. I think these are qualifications that will fit well with the requirements of Township Clerk.
This position is not a policy making one but does require someone who works well within a team structure—sharing common objectives to achieve results. I look forward to the opportunity to work with the slate we have put together. It will be a great team that is hard working and dedicated to shared objectives.

My community affiliations include the following:

• Palatine Community Emergency Response Team member and Animal Response Team member and volunteer 
• Palatine Food Pantry volunteer 
• BraveHearts Therapeutic Riding & Educational Center- Board member and Development committee member
• Special Olympics, volunteer
• Canine Companions, volunteer

2) How long have you been a Palatine Township resident?
I have lived in Palatine for 11 years.

3) What are the reasons you chose to run for office? (for the upcoming election)

I am interested in local government and after being involved as a volunteer at the Palatine Food Pantry, came to know more about the Township. I am excited about the opportunity to work with this team of qualified individuals to make the Township government better. The taxpayers deserve that since it is their money being spent. Our slate intends to provide services such as the Food Pantry and Senior Ridership Program, road maintenance of the unincorporated areas and property assessments more efficiently by working with local business and civic groups, partnering to deliver them.

4) List 2-3 top issues-and how you plan to address them-that you believe are important to residents living in Palatine Township.

• Spend Your Money Efficiently and Responsibly-cut 5% from the budget by being more efficient with  spending, reducing salaries where possible and partner with local business whenever it is possible to share costs.
• Develop a Strategic Plan and Involve Public Input-through open lines of communication we can educate residents about Township, solicit feedback and create a partnership that makes all of us accountable.
• Ensure All Taxpayers Are Benefiting from Township Services-make services available to a wider audience, ensure those services are meeting the need and look at additional services we might provide by partnering with the private sector.

5) What improvements, if any, would you like to see in the way that Palatine Township is run? 

A large focus for this slate will be to gain the input from taxpayers to assist in formulating our long term strategy. Bringing current salaries on par with other municipalities will be an objective targeted by our slate. Making sure that overtime is minimized or eliminated if possible and limiting retirement benefits to only full time positions are other opportunities to reduce the current tax burden.

6) Additional comments.

I am excited about the opportunity to work with each member of this slate with whom I share personal and professional goals--Doing Things Better for Palatine Township, www.BetterForPalatineTownship.com. I know that each of us has the best interests of the taxpayers in mind while we take on this important role of public office. I can tell you that this is an extremely motivated and dedicated group and that is why I was so interested in being a part of the slate. Collectively, we can do it better!

7) Biographical information, family, children, upbringing, religious beliefs, etc. (optional).

My husband Dick and I have lived in Palatine for the past 11 years. I was born and raised in Chicago.  Sixteen years of Catholic education helped shape the person I am today. I learned discipline, focus, responsibility and the importance of family and friends.  I’m very proud of the fact that many of the people I grew up with and went to school with are my life long friends, today.