On the Record With ... David Alarcon
Por EL CONQUISTADOR
David Alarcon started his public service career in law enforcement, working for the Department of Corrections in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
From there, he became a police officer in Park City, where he used his bilingual skills to recover several children kidnapped to Mexico.
Four years ago, Alarcon traded in his police badge for the title of Park City administrator. He said he quickly put his collaborative skills to work managing city operations and tackling lean budgets. He started his new job as Lakemoor’s first village administrator in November and hopes his get-it-done attitude will rein in rampant deficit spending.
Alarcon recently talked with reporter Diana Sroka about how he hopes his background and experiences will positively affect Lakemoor.
Sroka: What attracted you to Lakemoor?
Alarcon: One of the main things is the potential that Lakemoor has, especially for economic development. I’m the new administrator there, so I’m kind of molding what the position’s going to be in the future. [And] growth potential – I’m going to be able to do things which I really wasn’t able to do at my previous job, which is plan out a long-term plan for the village.
Sroka: What are your top priorities as administrator?
Alarcon: Right now my top priority is to find more efficient ways to run the village government, economic development, and to improve village services.
Sroka: Any services in particular?
Alarcon: All village services. A lot of times, customer service is not used when you talk about different government agencies, and I want to bring that customer service back into our village government.
Sroka: What makes you different from other administrators?
Alarcon: Going back to Park City, [working] with very limited resources. Not only was I the city administrator, but I also wore many hats when it came to [the] public works department. When we were short-handed or had different projects, I was the third person in the department. I will see things on paper, but I will also know what the employees go through and what the job is like ... I can relate to the employees.
Sroka: So I understand you trained officers in Mexico?
Alarcon: In 2002, there was a child abduction in Park City. I was the only Spanish-speaking officer there, so the case was given to me.
During the investigation, I found out the kids were taken by bus into Mexico. I made contacts with Mexican law enforcement officials who assisted me with bringing these kids back. Then three months later, I recovered another child that was parentally kidnapped from Kansas. Park City and a city in Guanajato, Mexico, became sister cities, ... The officials from Mexico wanted to do some training exchange, so we would go down there with police officers from Park City and train them on different issues.
Sroka: What’s the difference between how police officers are perceived by the public in Mexico and how they’re perceived in the U.S.?
Alarcon: Unfortunately, the culture of Mexico, the culture has a lot of corruption. It’s just unfortunate that the police are not really trusted. That’s why when we were invited, one of the things they really stressed was training and community relations. It’s just the culture and poverty.
Sroka: How do you think this experience will help you in Lakemoor?
Alarcon: Well, the No. 1 thing is I believe a village administrator needs is people skills, and I am very people-oriented. I’ve been able to deal with different issues, able to experience a lot of different things.
• David Alarcon became Lakemoor’s first village administrator in November. He began his public service career in law enforcement.
