-
Get Out & Vote Dublin! Meet the Candidates running for office in Dublin, both for Dublin City School Board and Dublin City Council
With election day just around the corner, The Dublin Chamber of Commerce wants to introduce you to local candidates to help you make an informed decision on November 2.
We have contacted each Dublin City Schools candidate and asked them a series of questions and have provided their unedited response below.
Here are the candidates running for the 2021 Dublin City Schools Board of Education:
Tiffany DeSilva
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
There are three big financial challenges facing our school district. The first one is the rapid growth in the northwest quadrant of the district. We successfully passed a levy three years ago that allowed our district to build two new elementary schools and one new middle school along with future additions to Jerome and Scioto High School to relieve overcrowding.
Depp Elementary is already at capacity. Eversole Run Middle School is almost at capacity, despite just opening. Jerome is at 130% capacity. Growth in the northwest quadrant has outpaced projections and will likely lead to the need for a fourth high school and/or additions. We will need funding to accommodate this growth.
The second financial challenge is to continue to work with Ohio legislators and advocate for the Fair School Funding plan which was passed as part of the state budget this year but was not fully funded or phased in for the full six years.
Thirdly, as a strong supporter of public education, I believe it is important that we work with Ohio legislators to make sure our public schools are not weakened by the siphoning of public funding to private schools and for-profit charter schools.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
Dublin City Schools is experiencing tremendous growth, especially in the northwest quadrant of the district. It was projected that we would see about 150 new homes per year, but we are currently seeing about 350 new homes per year in the area. The average new home in the district produces .8 kids, however the average in Jerome Village is over 1 kid per home.
Despite having just built 2 new elementary schools and 1 new middle school, Depp Elementary is already full, Eversole Run Middle School is almost full, and Jerome High School is at 130% capacity. A resolution was just passed to add modulars at Jerome with additions to be completed by 2023. We started the school year off with students taking classes in hallways. Neither modulars or hallway classrooms are ideal or adequate solutions.
I support conducting new enrollment projections to accurately inform us of what we can expect in the near future. We will need to engage the community in deciding if we should build a fourth high school in the district or add on to the existing high schools, sooner rather than later. We will also need to address redistricting at the high school level to balance out enrollment and make sure we are using our current resources in a fiscally responsible manner. As I mentioned, Jerome is at 130% capacity, Coffman is at 110% (and not a great candidate for additions), and Scioto is only at 90% capacity.
Addressing this issue effectively will require a collaborative approach between Dublin City Schools, the City of Dublin, developers, parents, community members, and students.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
The core mission of Dublin City Schools is to make sure that every child in our district receives a high-quality education. Every student who walks through our doors should be engaged, challenged, and supported in a way that allows them to be successful contributing members of society.
I am running for the Dublin school board because I want to make sure that every student has the appropriate knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and learning environment to succeed inside and outside of the classroom so that they are equipped to meet the challenges of our 21st century world.
I plan to regularly engage students, teachers, families, and community members in a collaborative partnership so that everyone is welcome and heard. Strong schools equal a strong community. You can’t have one without the other. In addition, we know that students thrive when they’re supported by caring adults at home, at school, and in the community.
My goal is to ensure high expectations, excellent academic opportunities, and educational equity for every student across the district, while practicing good stewardship & accountability.
I support programs and policies that support the whole child so that every student is ready to learn and able to perform at their full potential. Each one of our students has experienced some disruption and loss over the last 18 months. We know that students learn best & thrive in safe and supportive learning environments. This means creating a positive school climate and culture, and addressing students’ mental health, emotional, physical, and safety needs.
As a long-time volunteer, Dublin parent, and Licensed Social Worker, I understand the social and emotional needs of our students and I understand how policy affects them.
I want to bring that understanding to the school board, along with increased community engagement, better communication, and accountability.
Together, we can create a district where ALL students are affirmed, supported, and prepared to achieve at high levels.
Lindsay Gillis
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
District growth and Fair Funding.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
As a board, we need to work consistently work closely with developers to understand their plans so we can have a better understanding of our projected growth. The Board also needs to engage in facility planning to make sure we have the right learning spaces in place to support our growth. We need to be pro-active in this vs reactive so we can stay on-top of this. Which reduces hardship to our students and teachers.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
To educate, engage, and support all Dublin City School students. To create safe, inclusive environments, where students can learn, grow, and prepare to move on to their next phase of life after 12th grade.
Imran M. Malik
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
Coming out of the 18 months of a global pandemic the world community has been exposed to its social and process weaknesses all around. We as the Dublin community have also had our fair share of learning during this process but in the same sphere, we also have experienced the attributive strengths of our resiliency, perseverance, and commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder and remain ahead in areas of service and education. A few opportunities that need strategic thinking and financial focus that we can work together to further assure our continued success as the Dublin Irish ecology are:- SWOT assessment of our current resources and resetting our approach towards future expansion, remodeling, and keeping up with the continuous growth in the technological world to keep our school district/s performances and rankings on exponential growth. This also demands a consistent focus on our infrastructure maintenance, staff skillset advancements, and the creation of new programs and training for personal development so the district can move forward as a whole.
- Continuously adapting and catering to the demographic and ethnic growth in our School District to make sure that ‘no child left behind’ momentum remains true to the entirety of our commitment for service to all our Children – in conviction and in practice! This can be easily done by bringing together our Teachers, Parents, and Children in partnership and continuous conversation. IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD!
- We need to work on creating safe spaces and opportunities for Social deliberation that will build opportunities to create a culture of participatory decision making and engagement. Facilitation that warrants mutual respect and dignity during such dialogues.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
Our solid educational platform is a key reason for continued growth in our district’s population. This is definitely a good problem to have but we need to be more strategic in handling and catering to the growing demand. The projected new home growth is to be 175 new homes per year but builders are creating about 380 new homes per year. At this rate, we will be soon entering a phase of over-burdened classrooms and over-capacity buildings. Jerome, our 3rd High School is already out of capacity and temporary modular solutions are in place until the expansion is completed by end of 2023.
We need to start the conversations with the city, public safety, and school board leadership more upfront and bring the participatory decision-making culture into our practices.
If the growth remains unchecked then soon we will have traffic congestion, public safety issues, and higher infrastructure maintenance cost items to address the sustainable status quo, where quality control of future growth will be compromised.
A solution to look into will be creating more connected neighborhoods and floating classroom models for our future school buildings. This will also require us to continuously keep up and ahead of the technological growth and new ways of bringing state-of-the-art education to all our students. These decisions will need to be discussed and urgently planned to execution to make sure we don’t compromise on the living experiences and socio-emotional needs of our students and educators.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
Our Schools have a lot of very critical roles to play. They are not only responsible for the academic and athletic learning and development of our children but also for developing the fundamentals of their life skills and enhancing their living experiences. Our Schools are not raising a set of next-generation citizens and taxpayers but we are raising the leaders – policy and decision-makers of next-generation who will move our communities and nation in the years ahead in the global arena. We are raising the CEO, Inventors, Mayors, Governors, and leaders of the globalized world of tomorrow. With this conviction of core mission and vision we need to build pathways of success and opportunities for all our students with a universal focus around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion values, and help facilitate that through the best educational opportunity in the state of Ohio to them. Our Dublin schools are one of the leading school Districts and we continue to improve that standard of excellence without any compromises!
I am a strong believer in the word TEAM which stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. Our success and excellence lies in that working together and creating a partnership culture across all 4 wards of our beautiful city.
Lynn B. May
Dublin City School Board of Education, Incumbent
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
The biggest financial challenges facing our district are from outside sources:
A) The State of Ohio’s school funding mechanism and its over reliance on local property
taxes. Over 20 years ago, Ohio’s school funding of public schools was declared
unconstitutional. This past year, Treasurers, Superintendents and Legislators across the
State worked on a bi-partisan overhaul of state funding called “Ohio Fair School
Funding''. When it was time to vote, I helped organize Treasurers, Superintendents and
BOE members from all of Senate District 16 to join a Zoom call with Senator Kunze to
urge passage of this issue. She was very supportive. There was a push to take funding
out of the Biennium Budget and make it a separate line item in the budget. The
mechanism was adjusted to be made more fair and equitable to all districts, even though
still adjusted for their wealth and enrollment. It was to be phased in over six years. After
all the State Senate votes were taken, school funding continued to be attached to the
biennium budget for only two years at a time and the funding mechanism was not fully
funded or implemented. This is still uncorrected and we must continue to ask our local
taxpayers when we need more operating dollars, as most of the tax dollars DCS is
sending to the State ultimately end up in other districts.
B) Our State and Federal governments are also taking dollars away from public schools to
support vouchers, private schools and charter schools. The well i s only so deep and our
public school children are getting the short end of the stick. Our founders believed that
everyone should have a public education, whether they were rich or poor. After all,
public schools educate ALL children.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
We recently opened two new elementaries and a new middle school. These grade
levels are in a good place for a while. However, it is no secret that Dublin-Jerome High
School is very overcrowded. The BOE recently approved an emergency authorization to
purchase more portables for Jerome. Bond dollars to build additions at the high school
level were approved the last time voters went to the ballot. As soon as the additions are
built on to Jerome, we can eliminate those portables. This will alleviate the need for
short-term redistricting. We will certainly keep an eye on high school enrollment
projections in all three high schools to consider options for overcrowding going forward.
Building consensus with our community will play a vital role in how to deal with any
growth.
It would be wonderful if we could impose “impact fees” on developers when new homes
come online. However, that is illegal in the state of Ohio. That is why building
relationships with our local government entities are so important. Because the l and
within the boundaries of Dublin City Schools is such a desirable place to build,
developers and local governments and townships frequently work with DCS to donate
land for future school buildings. The latest example of this is when Nationwide partnered
with DCS in Jerome Village to donate the l and that ultimately became Lucy Depp
Elementary and Eversole Run Middle School. Building and nourishing relationships are
vital to handling future growth.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
Our new superintendent, Dr Marschhausen, has begun the work on updating our
mission, focus and strategic plan. So much has changed in the world in the past few
years, we need to take into consideration new l earning environments and the changing
composition of our student population and community. It is always the ultimate goal to
continue to provide our students with world class instruction and a well-rounded
educational experience. Continuous improvement is crucial. Bottom line, our core
mission revolves around the safety and education of ALL of our students. Now it’s time
to get to work with all staff, administration and the community to redefine our core
mission.
Diana Rigby
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
The biggest financial challenges facing our school district center around the current size of
our district as well as the projected growth. We have aging schools, and we must consider the
associated costs to maintain those schools. Some of them need "new skin", some need new
roofs, HVAC, etc. These are necessary and continual expenses that impact our budget. In the
past year, we have added 3 new schools: Hopewell Elementary, Abraham Depp Elementary, and
Eversole Run Middle School. The acquisition of land for these schools and the
physical structure of each building is costly, so too are the expenses that go along with them,
from administrative costs, to teacher salaries, to transportation costs, to food services and much
more. Our district is very diverse in population, as well as in learning styles and needs. We
dedicate funds in the way of resources to ensure every student has the tools he/she needs to
receive a world class education. Our financial challenges also stem from the fact we get very
little funding from the state. As such, we rely on our taxpayers for the vast majority of financial
needs. It is very important to be transparent with our community about the "what" and the "why"
that is needed, and to be fully accountable that financial decisions are made responsibly, meeting
student needs and our goal for educational excellence as the priority.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
As stated above, Dublin is a rapidly growing district. How we handle increased enrollment is
critical for students, as well as parents and the surrounding community. With the addition of
Hopewell and Depp Elementary, as well as Eversole Run Middle School, some of the growing
pains have been lessened in the current year. However, current construction in the NW quadrant,
in and around the Jerome Village area, indicates more will need to be done to address rising
enrollment numbers, especially at the high school level. Our high schools are bursting at the
seams already. Coffman is 115% of capacity, and Jerome is at 130%. Kids are learning math in
hallways at Jerome, and this is not sustainable, or frankly acceptable. Based on these statistics
and continued growth, a fourth high school will be necessary in the next 3-5 years. I am in favor
of this decision, as opposed to adding on to existing high schools, because of where our growth
is taking place and the logistical and bussing needs of our students and families. A fourth high
school allows student enrollment to be manageable per grade level, to have reasonable class
sizes, to allow for a better sense of community within the schools, as well as allow for greater
student participation in sports, band, clubs and other extra curriculars. With respect to any
redistricting that would follow from construction of a fourth high school, I would advocate
strongly for early and ongoing parent input, to keep neighborhoods together where at all
possible, and for minimal disruption to students as we consider these decisions.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
The core mission of Dublin City Schools is and should be to provide a world class education
to each of its students. It is the job of our district to create an environment and to provide the
necessary support within our classrooms that results in a high level of performance. We can
and do believe in our students to master challenging academic material, and our teachers are
prepared to meet these challenges. Part of our mission should also be open to what academic
success looks like for each individual student is different. There is no “one size fits all in
education” because there is no “one size fits all” learner. I am the parent of a child who clearly
learns quite differently. His 504 plan allows for customization to help him reach his fullest
potential. Our district mission should include recognition that there are multiple pathways to
achieve student success. Our fundamental goal would be to help each and every child to find
his/her “lane”, for example. At the risk of extending the metaphor, there is no wrong lane,
there is no speed limit, and each child should be able to get on and off the exit ramp a few
times along the way, as needed. Our students are in school to obtain an excellent education, of
course they are. They are also there to learn about themselves, to find out where they excel,
where their passions lie, and to determine what makes them happiest. And if DCS can help its
students figure out there is more to their education than a grade on a test or an ACT/SAT score,
we set them up well for a bright and confident future, no matter where the road takes them
upon graduation.
Cheri Striker
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
All of our schools should be equitable, meaning no matter which school you walk into, all of our kids should have updated tech, classroom furniture, venues, and learning spaces. Whether your student is enrolled at an older building or a brand new building they should have the same modern resources available to them. We need to lower class sizes. Our students need more early intervention and reading support, and our teachers need professional development that is focused on providing that support. All of these things can happen if we start spending smarter and focus on our students first. It seems like an overwhelming challenge, but we need to evaluate our spending to serve our students.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
Dublin is an amazing city and I always say we are lucky to be part of such a special place. We will continue to grow, and we need to plan for what enrollment and class sizes look like in the short term and the long term. We need to continue to keep neighborhoods together and evaluate where we can make the best impact through classroom additions/ We need to evaluate our funds, and make sure our financial picture is providing the resources that our students and teachers need to be successful.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
The core mission is to provide our students with a well rounded education that prepares them for the future whether their path is a college education, trade or career readiness. Our students need to foster a love of learning, so they are prepared for the next level. We need to focus on teaching empathy, respect, and kindness. We currently have the Profile of a Graduate, which outlines the knowledge, skills, and character for our students, these traits should continue to evolve and grow with our district goals.
Ted Sun
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
Financial challenge for any district is the balance between district revenues and expenditures. On the revenue side, the district needs to make sure that we continue to sustain and/or increase the revenue in proportion to growing student enrollment. In 2019, 77.48% of our district revenues came from general real estate property tax. As more housing developments get developed in Dublin, the additional proper tax should be relative to new student enrollment. The restricted and unrestricted state grants only account for 9.95% of the overall revenues. While it may look small, it still accounts for 21 million in revenues. The district needs to make sure that we continue to meet state requirements for that funding. One of the challenges inside the funding issue is the amount of money begin taken for charter schools. The district needs to ensure that Dublin remains one of the top districts and ensure its funding is not reduced. One potential funding source that the district has not fully explored are research grants. Several foundations have grants for educational related research that the district could explore. With the talent we have in the district, we could potentially obtain some of the research grants while being a center for innovation for educational research. This enables Dublin to be at the leading edge for the nation to expand the theoretical research in universities to practical application.
The other side of the financial balance is the spending aspect. In the past, some of the district’s saving in equipment and capital spending at the front has resulted in costly maintenance at the back end. One simple example is the purchase of lower quality copiers in the schools. These copiers required more maintenance while creating more stress on the teachers. Much of the spending requires a clear accountability structure so that we make sure every dollar spent achieves its intended outcome. Any expenditure on resources should always be assessed with the educational outcomes. If any spending does not result the desired return on investment, we need to adjust and find more efficient and effective alternatives. This is a constant feedback loop to make sure what we spend money wisely. When we look at a budget, it’s not just a bucket of money the district gets to spend. Most expenditures should be justified with a clear set of measures to establish return on investment.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
The growing student enrollment places additional requirement on many parts of our educational system within the district.- The facilities need to be present so that our students have the right environment to learn. I remember what it’s like to go to class in a portable unit back in the late 1980’s when Coffman had its growing pain. The heating systems in the portables always had problems, along with walking into the cold during the winter and then into a portable classroom. Jerome is facing the same issue Coffman faced in the late 1980’s. Better projections needs to happen so that we don’t repeat this mistake. Proper projections at elementary, middle, and high schools need to be continuously explored so that we are ahead of student overpopulation.
- The growing student enrollment also represents an increase in the diversity of our student population. The diversity requires additional support systems for people from different genders, ethnic groups, socio-economic groups, cultures, etc. A recent conversation with Kevin Foley, my track coach/teacher, who just retired after 42 years, shared that the last 10 years has greatly increased diversity of our student body. A classroom could have a wide range of students in the same class from someone who grew up in Dublin to someone who came from a war-torn nation who is just learning the language and the American way of life. Such diverse student body in a classroom requires different support systems to ensure all students have the same chance at success.
- The increased diversity of students also requires teachers to constantly gain new skills so that every student feels supported by the teacher and gets a chance to thrive. Our teachers are often finding themselves working longer hours to accommodate the increased diversity of needs, especially with the pandemic environment. Having sufficient teachers and maintaining appropriate student-teacher ratio also must be kept at an optimal level.
- Student support services also need to keep up with the growing enrollment. This may range from counselors to school bus drivers. The diversity of the student population will require greater attention to detail so that every child’s educational needs are met.
Growing student enrollment reflects the successes of the Dublin school district. Solid leadership is required to ensure new and existing students are given the best possible educational experience. We must have board members who have a proven track record of leadership to ensure the quality of education and oversee fiscal responsibility. We must also have profound leadership working in the district from the superintendent to principals. Working together to create an effective strategic plan that address the needs of growing enrollment for many years
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
The core missing of Dublin City Schools should focus on providing the best quality education possible for all children to thrive. The core mission requires many parts of the educational system to function as a cohesive machine. This includes a focus on the students (profile of a learner), the district’s organizational culture, and inclusion of key stakeholders.
Working alongside Battle for Kids, Dublin city schools had developed the profile of a learner. This profile includes three specific dimensions of knowledge, skills, and character.- The knowledge dimension focused on learners acquiring a well-rounded education, college and career readiness, global awareness, and wellness
- The skills dimension focused on learners demonstrating creativity and innovation, critical and flexible thinking, effective communication, and collaborative problem solving
- The character dimension focused on learners displaying empathy, perseverance, integrity, and responsibility. (see https://www.dublinschools.net/domain/953)
None of this can happen without a well-functioning district with administration, teachers and staff working as a team. The internal culture of the district must be focused on an innovative learning environment that thrives on collaboration. This calls for an inclusive leadership approach driven by the incredible ideas of district employees.
Furthermore, to achieve the profile of a learner, parents also need to be an integral part of the learning process. When students have a consistent learning environment between their school life and home life, they are more likely to succeed.
The above considerations for the core mission of the district is a starting point, it needs to function within a strategic plan, which we do not have. While we have some goals around excellent and equity, the lack of a strategic plan leaves room for interpretation. Our district first needs to establish a truly shared value set that’ll guide us in how we think and make decisions. This would involve an inclusive process to gather the shared values of our district. Once we have the shared value set, a long-term vision of our district in the next 20-30 years must be established, especially considering the continued enrollment increases. Starting out with a long-term future orientation enables us to set a mission that helps us reach the vision. With a clear vision statement, the core mission over the next few years can be clarified. All aspects of the values, vision, and mission needs to be aligned before getting into strategies to achieve our mission. We cannot just work on short-term missions without having a larger focus on the vision, which we should quickly establish.
Rick L. Weininger
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our school
district?
Return of state dollars to Dublin City Schools is the biggest ongoing challenge. Because 84.4% of revenue is locally generated the Board of Education and the Treasurer must ensure the prudent fiscal management of the District’s funds and encourage state officials to properly fund schools. Extending levy cycles (staying off the ballot as long as possible) demonstrates to our public that we are managing our resources successfully.
2. How would you address the growing student enrollment in Dublin City Schools?
Our district is one of the best in the country and the quality of educational opportunities attracts new families to our district in record numbers. As a District we must advance plan to address growth areas. This means conducting surveys and analyzing housing and enrollment data to plan for facilities, personnel, buses and educational materials to serve our students.
3. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Schools?
Beyond the official DSC mission statement on page one of every student handbook, I believe every student should be expected to achieve at high levels in a safe and welcoming environment. Students should be able to pursue career interests and be successful at their next level to help them have a happy and productive life.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With election day just around the corner, The Dublin Chamber of Commerce wants to introduce you to local candidates to help you make an informed decision on November 2.
We have contacted Dublin Council Member candidates running for election and asked them a series of questions and have provided their unedited response below.
Here are the candidates running for the 2021 Dublin City Council:
City of Dublin Council Member Candidates:- Amy Kramb, Ward 1
- Ajmeri Hoque, Ward 1
- Jane Fox, Ward 2, Running Unopposed
- John Reiner, Ward 3, Running Unopposed
- Cathy De Rosa, Ward 4, Running Unopposed
Ajmeri Hoque
1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our city?
Currently, we all are still experiencing the impact of living through a pandemic and many of the Dublin constituents were financially challenged during the peak of the pandemic. Based on the recent Council meetings regarding the 2022 budget outlook, it was noted that tourism within Dublin continues to be affected and that it will take years to recover. However, our overall operating budget has once again increased despite the pandemic and next year, we’re looking at a 100 million dollar budget. The greatest financial challenge that will linger even with our overall budget growth will still be the tourism revenue and hotel/motel bed tax. Dublin lost about 30% of our tourism revenue in 2021 and still has not recovered the full amount. The City needs to rethink how to approach tourism in Dublin. While Visit Dublin has done an excellent job in redirecting interest in Dublin through social media and other avenues of income generating sources, there is room for improvement. The City needs to reach out to a fresh group, one that will be excited to explore Dublin in a new way.
2. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Council?
The core mission of City Council is to be the voice of constituents. While City Council has duties such as reviewing and approving annual budgets, setting short and long term goals, regulating land use through zoning and planning, passing ordinances and resolutions, etc.; City Council is much more than that. Residents look to City Council to bring concerns to, to have their questions answered and to feel they are being represented and their voices heard. City Council members should be accessible and approachable. Council members should make the effort to integrate themselves into activities residents are already participating in - such as taking walks in the neighborhoods with residents or meeting at local parks for families with small children. By shifting the burden of making the effort to be in contact away from busy residents and homeowners, Councilmembers should be the ones reaching out to constituents. When residents and homeowners feel more connected to local government leaders, it naturally leads to a better environment for everyone. If Councilmembers in other communities can do this, then Dublin can too.
Council also should be representative of all who live in this community. Council members should reflect the ethnic and economic diversity in Dublin. Residents should be able to look at a picture of elected officials and see themselves there.
Councilmembers also represent who the City is to other cities and to future residents. Businesses, future residents and the modern workforce have high expectations for the city they choose to work and live in. Those expectations include an equitable distribution of resources for everyone, representation for all, and a commitment to diversity. All of this and more is part of Council’s core duties to its residents and businesses.
3. Why are you running for Dublin City Council?
I live in the Wyandotte Woods neighborhood with my husband and daughter since 2015. But I have been a part of this community since 2003 when my parents bought their very first home in the US in the Dublin School district. Since then I have attended the Ohio State University and continued my education at Capital University Law School.
When we first moved here, I remember Dublin only had 2 high schools and my neighborhood was just woods. I commuted to Ohio State and law school from my parent’s home. In those years, the woods became communities, the roads expanded, and Dublin added another high school. Dublin has continued to grow as a dynamic and extremely diverse place to live.
In the years that I have lived and served in this community, I have been a prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney, a volunteer at legal clinics, and on boards of South Asian organizations, including co-chair of South Asian Women for Biden-Harris in Ohio. Currently, I own my own law firm and I’m on the Dublin Chief of Police’s Advisory Committee for diversity, equity and inclusion.
I’m running because I want to bring this community together. As a resident who is newer to Dublin, I understand the desire to be more connected to the community, residents, and local government. And as someone who has seen many of the changes Dublin has gone through, I understand the need to preserve many of the traditions of Dublin.
I want everyone to feel what I felt when I first moved here and what compelled my parents to buy their first and only home here -that is our place and we belong here.
Part of bringing this community together and more welcoming is making Councilmembers more accessible to their constituents, bringing in more diverse businesses, creating equitable housing in Dublin and mostly having a fresh perspective as someone who is a women of color, an Asian immigrant (⅕ of the community) and a person who lives east of river.
As a former prosecutor and current trial attorney, I learned to be creative, how to negotiate and be relentless in my pursuit of achieving the best possible outcome. And I promise to bring those same qualities to this position in Council.
It’s time for Dublin’s elected officials to reflect the ethnically and economically diverse constituency they serve and I will be that person for you.
I’m Ajmeri Hoque and I am asking for your vote on November 2nd, 2021.
Amy Kramb1. What do you believe are the biggest financial challenges facing our city?Our City’s biggest financial challenge is retaining, replacing, and adding to our City’s corporate tax base. Taxes received from corporate payroll are the primary funding source for our City. This tax source is threatened as corporation structures change, companies downsize or outsource, and employees transition to work from home. It is essential to continually assess our City’s existing land uses and zoning regulations while adapting regulations as needed to strategically accommodate changing corporate needs.
2. What do you feel is the core mission of Dublin City Council?3. Why are you running for Dublin City Council?
The primary role of City Council is to set City policy, establish City goals, and approve and oversee the City’s annual budget. City Council also authorizes the number of City employees, establishes City employee compensation, creates and eliminates City departments and commissions, and levies City taxes and assessments. Ultimately, City Council members serve as a voice for their constituents. So, it is City Council’s mission to consider the health, safety, and general welfare of residents while making these planning, zoning, land-use, and financial decisions. More on Council’s specific vision and goals may be found at: https://krambforcouncil.com/platform.
As a life-long Dublin resident, I am running for Dublin City Council because I have the experience and desire to serve Dublin residents and keep Dublin the wonderful community we know and love. I want to ensure Dublin continues to hold developers to high standards. I want to see that our City allows the type of development our community wants and needs. I want to see that our City spends its money wisely with sufficient consideration and transparency. And, I want to encourage increased citizen involvement, so the public has ample opportunity to review and participate in our City’s decisions. For more, visit: https://krambforcouncil.com/.
For more information, visit www.Vote411.org
Get Out & Vote Dublin! Meet the Candi...Date and Time
Tuesday Nov 2, 2021
Tell a Friend
-
Calendar of Events
-