In Barrington Hills, Louis Iacovelli is running against incumbent village President Martin McLaughlin. Here are some of there answers to a Daily Herald questionnaire; complete questionnaires are at dailyherald.com.

Q: What makes you the best candidate for the job?

Iacovelli: I have lived in the village for 17 years. I am very passionate about our community, our environment, and government transparency.

I have spent my career helping businesses find solutions to their problems by listening and thinking creatively and collaboratively. I would bring that same approach to the position of board president. I pledge to listen to all residents, and work together to ensure Barrington Hills remains a unique and valuable community.

McLaughlin: I am interested in continuing to provide respectful representation and proven results to my neighbors.

In 2013, I ran on four issues. 1) Reduce village budgets, spending, and taxes. Budget 2013, $8.4 million, 2017, $7.5 million. Spending 2013, $8.2 million, 2016, $7.6 million. Levy 2013, $6.6 million, 2017, $5.3 million. 2) Bring village legal issues and expenses under control. Solved 18 year Sears lawsuit. Settled police labor dispute. Reduced legal spending by 70%. 3) Operate government like a business accountable to our residents. Consolidated departments. Consolidated 911 dispatch. Improved technology and response times. Increased village reserves and services. 4) Unite our community around common goals and objectives. Rejected the Long Meadow Parkway, passing resolution opposing it. Preserved our natural open spaces. Protected our 5 acre zoning. Maintained our communities equestrian heritage. Restored anti-commercial and anti-business property protections. Founded The Hills are Alive Festival. I am a volunteer serving my community and neighbors. Professionally I have owned, operated, and now manage an investment advisory business. I have had the privilege of working with great people setting goals together and achieving excellent results.

I am proud of delivering on my 2013 promises and proud of our successes working together. Taking a collaborative approach to problem solving has not always been easy but the results have benefited ALL our residents. I am also pleased to have lead by example maintaining a civil, respectful and collegial environment for meetings and assemblies during my term as village president.

Q: Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?

Iacovelli: The current levy has not increased in 10 years, and the total remains enough to provide residents’ with quality village services. Unfortunately, services have suffered in recent years, and we need to make changes to ensure we are maximizing those tax dollars.

McLaughlin: We have issued and received proposals for village engineering services. The

bids are being reviewed. That review will be concluded in the next month or two.

We will be comparing services, capabilities and price. We also have negotiated with our police to have the ability to hire part-time officers to support our current full-time officers who remain fully staffed in the field.

The part-time hires will cover vacation time and injured officers who are recovering. We will also be looking to hire additional officers for full-time positions in 2017 as we began taking applications in the Fall of 2016.

We expect these new patrol officers to take place in April 2017. These new hires will be replacing retiring officers. One area where we may consider adding to the budget is public safety video technologies which can increase the areas that officers can monitor as well as personal cameras which can protect our officers, the public, and decrease legal costs.

Q: What is one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?

Iacovelli: Reinstate the Communications Committee and broadcast all village board meetings, as well as community announcements, on a local government-access television (GATV) cable TV station.

McLaughlin: After a year of planning and work with my communications director and an outside marketing company, we have just rolled out a new village website, which is innovative in its design and structure.

This will become an invaluable resource for our residents. It is much more than a government website. It was designed to be a “virtual main street “ a place where you can easily find permit applications and government records or locate an event calendar where citizens might be gathering for a creek restoration project or a Sunday trail ride.

We have crafted this communications platform to provide significant information easily to the user. We have added links to area schools, equestrian clubs, social services, park districts, forest preserves, conservation groups, and even philanthropic organizations.

This site combines the services local government must provide like records and FOIA request reports with services and links that people usually never have combined and assembled in a single web location.

The village has met with area realtors who are extremely excited about using the lifestyle section and property freedoms section as a way to highlight and promote what living in Barrington Hills can be like for potential homebuyers.

Q. What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?

Iacovelli: I am committed to ensuring that village government works harder at engaging residents and collaborating with surrounding communities.

McLaughlin: If I am fortunate to earn the trust of my friends and neighbors for a second term as their village president, I pledge to continue to operate local government like a business, improve our infrastructure, while preserving and protecting our village’s unique rural character.

I will continue to reject the Long Meadow Parkway both through our village resolution and while serving on regional committees. I am committed to protecting 5-acre minimum zoning and maintaining our rural equestrian friendly open space community.

I have worked hard to restore our reputation as an accommodating and welcoming village. I have had the opportunity to work with the owners of former village properties and will continue to do so fostering neighborly relations and provide a pathway back into our village.

I am committed to providing opportunities for those who share the desire to preserve our unspoiled natural settings and open spaces that we enjoy in Barrington Hills and that my neighbors, my family and I call home.