Jim Moran's First Interview as Libertyville Trustee

The Village of Libertyville held a swearing-in ceremony for trustees Donna Johnson, Drew Cullum - and the newest board member, Jim Moran - during its May 10 regular meeting.

Each elected official will serve a four-year term, and although Johnson and Cullum are veteran political incumbents who were re-elected, it didn't take Moran long to show he came prepared Tuesday night.

Moran quickly abstained from voting on an item early in the meeting due to a potential conflict of interests, then spoke exclusively with Libertyville Patch following the meeting. It was his first official interview as a village trustee, and his message was one of working together, and positivity.

"One thing I want to make very clear is that I'm not adversarial to the current members of the board," Moran said. "There was an article written before the election that made it sound like I was staunchly opposing or against a lot of what the board is doing, and that's just not the case.

"I'm one member of a six member board," Moran added. "I think the way things were portrayed might have rubbed some of the board members the wrong way, and I want to make sure they understand I'm very supportive of most of the things they're doing. I look forward to working with them all to help make Libertyville an even better place."

Moran, who has worked as a radio personality, said despite being in the public eye in the past, he was admittedly nervous in his first board meeting as trustee.

"Yes, I was nervous, and it kind of surprised me," Moran said. "For most of my life as a news reporter covering stuff like this, I've been to a ton of board meetings. I didn't think tonight would be any different, but yes, I was."

Preparation for board meetings is something Moran also said he focused strongly on before, and immediately after, being elected.

"For instance, for this meeting we got a packet with information last Thursday night, and I took a lot of time to read through everything," Moran said. "I talked with people, and did as much research into all of the issues on tonight's agenda as I possibly could, because I wanted to make sure I was prepared."

He also explained several ways he thinks he can help the village. For instance, Moran would like to see Libertyville make its website more user friendly. While applauding the efforts of other board members for their increased transparency over the past year, Moran said he would like trustees to take their ideas a step further.

"I'd like to see residents have the same access to the informational packets [trustees] and the media get prior to meetings," Moran said. "Even if it takes a little bit of time, it would be great to have these items loaded online as PDF files, the same way residents can currently access the board's agendas, so that people who wish to attend meetings can come better prepared, and have more information about the items being discussed.

"It wouldn't cost a lot of money to do this," Moran added. "I think it would also be great, if, instead of all the board members being issued these huge stacks of papers at each meeting, we somehow figure out a way to have all the trustees use laptops that have the necessary information on the screen in front of them. I think it may be the wave of the future - and we would be less wasteful - at the same time."

In an age where more and more adults are using social networking sites such as Facebook, Moran hopes Libertyville will follow suit. He even has his own blog he created prior to being elected that discusses issues throughout the community.

"I think we need to be more proactive in how the village uses social media and networking," Moran said. "I'd also like to see us make the town's website a little bit more user-friendly. Instead of clicking on three of four links to find one item, I'd like to see us cut down on that if possible, which will help draw more residents to it.

Moran cites MainStreet Libertyville as example of an upgraded website.

"They just re-did their website and it's wonderful," Moran said. "Having said that, I feel the village has made a lot of great strides and put serious effort into making things more accessible to residents, which is great. I truly look forward to working with the rest of the board ... we all care about and want the same things, which is whatever is best for Libertyville. That's what matters."