Shawn Keough, Candidate for Dexter Village President

General Information

Name: Shawn Keough
Age: 42
Place of residence: 8222 Webster Drive, Dexter, MI.

Family: My wife Chrissy and I have been married for over 15 years. I have two daughters, Carly (10th Grade) and Megan (8th Grade) in the Dexter School District. We have lived in Dexter since Sept. 1, 2001.

Education

College

Attended college : September 1988 through December 1992
College : University of Michigan, College of Engineering
Degree : Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
Year of graduation : 1992

Grad school

I did not attend graduate school, however, I obtained by Professional Engineering License (Civil Engineering) from the State of Michigan in 1997.

Employment Information

Job titles held : Professional Engineer, vice president and municipal services market segment lead at Wade Trim.
Employers : I have worked full time at Wade Trim since January 1993 and worked five summers for Wade Trim from 1988 to 1992.

Political Information

Party affiliation : Non-partisan      
Running for a: 2nd Term
Running for position: Village of Dexter President
Incumbent: Yes
First elected: I was first elected to the position of village trustee in March 2004
Previous elective offices : Village president from December 2007 to present; village trustee from March 2004 to December 2007.

URLs

Website:  I do not have a website, as I prefer to speak to people in person.
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Re-elect-Shawn-Keough/478184055549443

Other facts

Current public or community service: Sponsor for Confirmation candidates at St. Joseph Parish; volunteer at Flower Day for Dexter Little League Baseball

What are three key issues that you're seeking to deal with if elected?   

1.) Our fire station needs to be significantly upgraded or we need to build a new one. Both are options at this point. Along with the other village trustees and village staff, we will plan for significant improvements to our current fire station or a new fire station.

We will evaluate both options and get input along the way from our residents through town hall meetings. There is a lot of planning and input that needs to happen before we can put a shovel in the ground.

We also need to seek public input on how the community wants to pay for this important public improvement. One option is to issue a general obligation bond. The timing of this will be evaluated as part of this process.

Regardless of which option we end up selecting, the village will need to select an architectural consultant to help us through this process. It will be important to have a consultant that can clearly present options to the public and village council  and provide accurate cost estimates so that we can make the best decisions.

We will also need to choose the best location, which may not be an easy part of the process. We need to remember that we have the Main Station within the Dexter Area Fire Department right now and the location of our station has an impact not only on the village in terms of response times within the coverage area, but also in Dexter Township and Webster Township.

2.) We need to continue our focus on infrastructure improvements, especially street and sidewalk improvements in the original village areas. We have done a good job rating our streets and we need to continue to have an annual infrastructure program that focuses on improving our streets and installing new sidewalk in areas where there are none.

Areas like Second Street, Hudson, Dover and Edison, to name a few, need sidewalks for connectivity and safety of pedestrians. Many of these areas have mature trees and challenges related to topography and existing features. We will work proactively with the residents to develop a plan that works for both the village and the residents in each area to accomplish this.

3.) We need to maintain an eye on the fiscal health of the village. We have adopted and maintained a balanced budget over the past several years. All of our funds have respectable fund balances and we need to keep them healthy.

We need to look to the future and continue to fund our employee pension fund and retiree health care fund so that these are not problems for future generations. We have made great strides in these areas over the past four years, and I wish to continue to improve this situation by continuing to plan for these future obligations.