George Rich: Candidate for Lake Saint Louis Alderman, Ward 3

Name: George Rich
Age: 74
Family: Linda, wife of 53 yrs., 3 children and 5 grandchildren
Education: BS in Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana
Occupation: Retired from McDonnell Douglas/Boeing
Previous elected offices: Alderman
Number of years living in Lake Saint Louis: 16 yrs. 

CANDIDATE QUESTIONS

1. What is the primary reason you are running for this office?
Try to stop knee-jerk planning! Draft city plan to;

-     Beautify I-70/Dam retail area: trees, sidewalks, benches

-     Develop existing 35 acre nature Park west of Hawk Ridge; trails & wildlife viewing

-     Market LSL to attract new home owners & retail shops

-     Develop western part of the city (to Duello)

2. What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?
Work to keep real estate taxes from rising un-necessarily.

3. What's your favorite thing about Lake Saint Louis?
The staggering number of experienced, knowledgeable, and talented people in this city & the many social and sports activities.

4. What is the biggest problem you see in Lake Saint Louis?
Lack of a plan to guide future city activities and development. We work on challenges as they surface. But our solutions often have unintended consequences. We want retail development but don’t want it to affect residential areas. Our future growth is west of I-64 but we spend little time on what we hope that part of our city will become. We work with the Meadows and Hawk Ridge retail developers but ignore the commercial areas in the Dam/I-70 area. We need a flexible plan for the entire city that can guide us as the future rushes at us. 

5. What is your vision for Lake Saint Louis?
A city with talented people who shape a community that can adapt to future challenges and remain a great place to work, live and play.

 6. If an incumbent, why do you think you should retain your seat? If you are challenging an incumbent, what do you think qualifies you for the position more than the incumbent?
I’ve helped to get the Meadows up and running that contributes a lot of sales tax income to our city. Helped reduce city health care costs. Helped reduce city employee sick leave costs. Helped implement a city wide No Smoking policy. Helped get the LSL Blvd. speed limit raised to 35 mph. Helped pass balanced budgets with a current reserve/emergency fund of over $1M.