George Fero for Mayor of Lebanon
Candidate for Mayor of Lebanon Illinois
George Fero is a visionary who has great plans for Lebanon. George has been actively involved in the city for most of the past 20 years. He is currently the Alderman for Ward 4, served on the Lebanon Library Board and has chaired a community committee for the Lebanon CUSD 9.
Why Vote for Me?
- I believe people should vote for me because I am the best choice:
- I have a vision;
-I am experienced;
I have a track record of community involvement across the city;
-Finally, I have been a resident for 20 years. So, I have a really good idea what this city needs to become a dynamic vibrant city that will attract new residents, businesses and visitors. I am looking to the future and not backwards. Past experiences tell us what not to do to make this a great city. We need to keep looking forward.
Civic Involvement
- Member of Lebanon Lions Club (I have been a Lion since 1986) - Past-President of Lebanon Lions Club - currently serve as scholarship chair.
- Past member Lebanon Public Library Board - Led the effort to form a separate library district
- Chaired a School Facilities Task Force for Lebanon CUSD9 - led the effort that recommended a new elementary school that was subsequently built.
- Vice-president Friends of McAllister Park - applied for and received $106,000 in grants to renovate and upgrade the park - applied for and received $39,000 grant for Horner Park District to purchase a new tractor.
- Vice President Gateway East Trails - led the effort to designate bike routes on Lebanon streets; helped lead the effort to build the Trestle Trail in Lebanon - applied for and received a $36,000 MEPRD grant to complete the trail.
- Currently serve as Ward Four Alderman on the Lebanon City Council - chair the city ordinance committee.
- AARP Safe Driving Instructor offering courses to residents (volunteer).
- Nationally certified bicycle instructor (League of American Bicyclists LCI) offering bike safety courses to residents. -
- Member Board of Directors for Ride Illinois, the statewide bicycle advocacy organization.
Why Am I Running?
The City of Lebanon needs a mayor with a vision, communication skills, and the ability to unite the city and take it forward. The city has been treading water for the last several years and has not grown economically and in size.
I believe I have the vision to improve the liveability and to reduce the negative perceptions of the city to attract more families to live and grow here.
I also believe I have the skills necessary to serve as mayor including the communication skills to seek out and encourage new dynamic businesses to come to or start up in Lebanon.
I believe the next mayor needs to be a leader for the entire city not parts of the city and populations.
There are four front doors to Lebanon, they all should display Lebanon as a dynamic place to live, work and play.
Top Issues
The top issue is to maintain a balanced but aggressive budget for the city to better serve its residents and businesses. We need to seek out additional revenue streams without increasing the tax burden on current residents through increased property taxes.
This means more businesses that bring traffic to Lebanon. There is no plan in place now to actively seek out business and light industry to come to Lebanon. The city leadership needs to be proactive in this area and not passively wait for someone to discover the city.
The city needs to aggressively extend its borders through annexation to allow for commercial and residential expansion.
There needs to be a plan to seek out and utilize county, state and federal grant funding to extend the purchasing power of the Lebanon dollar. An impediment has been the need to have matching funds for most grants to improve the infrastructure. Rather than always looking for those funds in the current budget, the budget needs to be built with those funds already identified .