Dave Keller
Dave Keller is one of four candidates running for the open District 1 Cook County commissioner seat vacated by Frank Moe, who left for health reasons. The Cook County News- Herald caught up with Dave and asked him some questions. With the April primary coming up soon, voters will cut the field to two candidates for the June special election to decide the seat.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Where to start? Well, I grew up in the Chisago Lakes area north of the Twin Cities on a hobby farm. We raised Limousine beef cattle, pigs, horses and some crops. My father and mother were both school teachers and my father was also an ardent outdoorsman, so quite naturally I spent a lot of time hunting, fishing and camping and still do whenever I can find the time. One of my favorite leisure activities is black powder cartridge reloading and shooting.
I worked in various fields after my education including retail management and construction before I found a home with a bus corporation in the Twin Cities. I worked in middle management running one of the facilities that provided bus service throughout the Twin Cities. My family (wife and three kids) moved up to the North Shore in the summer of 2012 mostly because my wife and I were looking for one more adventure in our lives and could not imagine a more beautiful place to live. We ran the Chicago Bay Marketplace until April of 2014. We now live in Hovland and feel as though we have finally found a place we can truly call home. I currently work in Grand Portage at the Trading Post.
What would you like to see done differently by the commissioners?
I would not want to be overly critical of the current commissioners, I understand that the position can at times be thankless and difficult decisions must be made. That being said I think an important aspect of the job is transparency. Obviously our commissioners are tasked with overseeing and making decisions that affect every Cook County resident financially and at times very personally. Fiscal decisions must be made with a definite balance between wants and needs. We have limited resources and those resources must be used wisely.
How do you think you can best represent your district? And the county?
My opinion? I am a people person. I have always enjoyed meaningful and enlightening conversations and treasure the friendships and caring people I have encountered since I moved up here. To gather all the information possible before developing an opinion or making a decision is extremely important. All sides must be heard and opinions weighed against facts and I believe I possess this skill set. Again, balancing resources with both mandatory and non-mandatory budget items is crucial.
What are some of your strengths? Will you research topics before voting on them?
I worked for a very large corporation for 23 years responsible for every aspect of the business. I pretty much lived with budgets, forecasts and P and Ls for that time. I also believe my experience and love for the outdoors gives me a well-rounded baseline. As far as researching topics, you must gather all of the information available to have the necessary information to intelligently and responsibly make a decision. After all, these votes often have long term consequences that we all must live with.
Human services touch us all. Will you fight for current programs to be adequately funded?
Human Services does indeed touch us all. I believe that we can, with responsible and intelligent decision making, assure that all necessary programs are funded appropriately. In a county such as ours you could argue that Human Services decisions are even more important than in other more adequately funded counties. With that being said, we also need to make sure that a good balance is achieved, we don’t want to make it even more difficult for folks to live here and price our future citizens out of the county. In closing, solid budgetary decisions that address all needs are critical. We live in a special place, let’s keep it that way.
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