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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGumz Eric - Supplemental Questionnaire Thank you for your interest in the open Common Council seat. Below is a list of questions the Common Council would like you to answer and send back to KZuercher@oshkoshwi.gov by 4:30pm Thursday, November 20th, 2025. Council Candidate Name: Eric Gumz 1. How do you view the role of a City Council Member– what is your job as a council member? To serve the best interests of the public and community. 2. Will you be running for a seat on the Oshkosh Common Council in the next election – whether you are selected for this appointment or not? Yes 3. Do you understand the time commitment required for a Council Member (meetings, constituent interactions, general community involvement, etc.) and do you have the time and flexibility to accommodate this schedule? Yes 4. Where do you see this community in five years? I think this question is better phrased as: “Where would I like to see this community in 5 years?” as that depends heavily on the direction the Common Council takes us. Ideally, the Common Council would begin to address the issue of crime in this city and make it safer for families to live and grow. Public safety and stability are the building blocks of every society without which nothing else can function properly. People have left Oshkosh by thousands in recent years due to the decline in public safety. Once this issue has been addressed, I think people will not only begin to choose to stay here, but we can attract people back to this community, which means more taxpayers, school aged children (aka funding for the school district), and businesses. I think then we can also help by de-regulating some ordnances to promote business growth and development, especially those owned and operated by residents. We need to give people an incentive to stay and grow their families and businesses here, but for now until the issue of safety is addressed, we can't begin to build on that. 5. A group of residents demands action on something we legally cannot do or have no control over. How do you respond, publicly and privately? You simply tell them the truth both publicly and privately, that the issue they would like us to address is not within the power of the council to do so and give them an explanation as to how and why. 6. What is your definition of sustainability and how do you relate it to city operations? Sustainability comes down to funding and appropriate use of the taxpayers dollars. We should focus on the things we need before we look at things we “want” or would be “nice to have”. Our decisions need to be practical in their application. I also think that any time the council considers something that has a cost associated with it the main question that needs to be asked is ,” how will this benefit the citizens of Oshkosh?”. 7. What is your opinion of the City budget and taxes; do you have any ideas to share? For a city this size, the property taxes seem to be pretty high compared to other areas I’ve lived throughout the US. For the most part it would seem that the city portion of the taxes has things under control, but the other issue is also the school district which is the lions share of property taxes. I think it would be a good idea to liaison with the school district and work on common goals of meeting the needs of both the city and our schools without raising taxes. I think an audit of accounts and spending is also in order that would be made transparent to the public in order to let them know that we’ve been managing their money wisely. We can also look at other potential sources of revenue for the city through public events and utilizing local businesses to support and participate in these events. An example would be an Oshkosh Marathon or Oktoberfest (or both) where the city would work together with local businesses to set up as vendors and pay a nominal fee to the city for hosting the event and sell their goods. Tickets could be sold to the events as well, we would just need to crunch some numbers to see what the overhead costs of the event would be and work the profit margins. Another idea would be a Christmas and or Halloween home decorating contest where residents would buy tickets and register their address to be judged and the top 3 homes with the best decorations would win a prize, perhaps a gift certificate through the chamber of commerce. The common council members could serve as the judges and hand out the awards at a common council meeting. This would cost virtually nothing but would be a great event for the community to take part in, it would also very likely attract people from outside of Oshkosh to come and look at the best houses registered for the community to take part in, it would also very likely attract people from outside of Oshkosh to come and look at the best houses registered for the event and they would spend money while they are here at local businesses. We could even open up voting to the public and post on social media for everyone to take part in. I think and Oshkosh Oktoberfest would be a no brainer to be honest, we have beautiful parks to host it in and local beer and food vendors to come and sell their products to the public. I understand we already have a beer garden in Menominee Park, but this would be a much larger scale that would hopefully attract people from outside of Oshkosh, again to come here and spend money and purchase tickets for entry. These kinds of community events are what could have the potential to put Oshkosh on the map and also present an opportunity for the city to generate revenue. 8. As a Common Council Member how would you support the Strategic Plan Goals, Mission and Vision of the community? The main thing I would to as a Council member would be to engage with my peers on the council and ensure that the goals set are both measurable, attainable, and a net benefit to the greatest amount of people possible. Developing and publicly debating the plans are paramount in a democratic republic as well as allowing the public to weigh in on those plans as well. We are smarter together and should avoid planning in a vacuum, or even worse falling in love with out own plans so much that we simply disregard opposition and further discussion on the matter. My expertise is in planning as I spent the bulk of my time in the Marine Corps as an Operations Officer at some of the highest level commands for all East Coast Marine Corps installations, so as a Common Council member I fully intend to put my experience to good use.