Name: Mark R. Hawley

Age: 60

Occupation: Director – Corporate Safety at Alliant Energy – Madison. My group supports safety for Operations in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota for approximately 4,000 employees. We help employees get home at night to their loved ones by ensuring they have everything they need to work safe. I have effectively managed many multi-million dollar budgets over the years and have a good relationship with the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) supporting safety together.

Years lived in village: 23.

Incumbent? No.

Have you been on the village board or held any other public office before? If so please describe: I have never been on the New Glarus Village Board or held any other public office. However, I am currently on the following Advisory Boards: Chair – Wisconsin Safety Council Advisory Board; Member – University of Wisconsin – Burn Unit Advancement; Member – WMC Foundation.

Why are you running for village board president? I know I can make a difference. I was active in the "Save Glarner Park" initiative as a member of the community. We were successful in saving the park for the youth of New Glarus. I have experience in bringing people together to discuss tough issues while still treating each other with dignity and respect. I have the ability to get people to the table to talk, compromise if necessary and to get decisions made.

What issues do you find most important to the village board? List your top three priorities: Actively Support the Businesses of New Glarus – I believe that the more that we can do to support our local businesses and draw in new businesses, the more prosperous we will be as a community. We need to actively grow our tourism business while continuing to support the needs of the local community. There is only so much we can do with property taxes. The only way to grow revenue is to grow the businesses in our community. I will hold listening sessions with the local business community to get their ideas on how we can help them thrive. I will also gather ideas from other successful tourism communities to see what might work for New Glarus.

Build a new fiscally responsible Library – It is time to bring the Library Board and the Village Board together to get a decision made promptly to begin construction on a new library. This project has been on and off again for over 20 years. An entire generation has missed the opportunity to benefit from a new library. I do believe everyone involved in trying to get a new library built has done so with positive intent. I applaud their efforts and all the hard work. At a local level, we must be able to compromise and get to fiscally responsible decisions in a timely manner that benefit the entire community. There are a lot of very generous donors that support this project. We owe it to them and the community to move forward so we can get on with other important issues.

Listen to the Community – I believe that in order to serve the community well, you need to know what they are thinking. However, I don't intend to be the complaint department – I want to listen to forward thinking individuals who want to continue to Make a Better New Glarus for all generations. We need to do the right things so that our young people will want to stay and work in New Glarus. I will hold regular listening sessions open to the public to gather ideas.

If you could reverse one village action, what would that be? I do not think it does much good by looking in the rear-view mirror. The windshield has a much broader view that will help Make a Better New Glarus. I want to look ahead and move the community forward by bringing people together to make prompt prudent decisions. We have had good hard-working people on the village board all trying to serve the community with positive intent in mind. I think we have a little study fatigue and we need to get a little better at not delaying decisions. I have the leadership skills to get the job done.

Any additional comments? My wife, Denise and I and my two kids, Madison and Bernadette, love living in this community. Both my kids attended school here from K through 12. We could not have provided them a better childhood than what they received in New Glarus.

My family and I do worry that New Glarus may be slowly losing its Swiss identity. As hard as everyone in the village works to keep this alive, I believe we must work even harder at preserving the Swiss heritage which makes New Glarus a great tourist destination. As each generation passes on, we slowly lose a part of our heritage. Something as simple as renaming Bahnhof Street to Railroad Street and now I see the signs say RR Street. That is a simple example of Swiss culture slowly eroding away. I will do my best to help all the good people already trying to preserve the culture do even better.

I am a positive person that believes in always doing the right thing. I will do the right thing for you and the village when I am elected Village President.

I invite the residents of New Glarus to visit my campaign's homepage on Facebook by searching for "Mark Hawley for New Glarus Village President" to learn more about what I can do for you as your Village President. Thank you!