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Office you seek: Elon Board of Aldermen

Occupation: Retired. Worked for Western Electric/AT&T/Lucent Technologies for 28 1/2 years and IBM for 9 1/2 years.

Age: 65

Education: BS from High Point College (mathematics); MS from Clemson University (mathematics) ; MS from Purdue University School of Industrial Engineering

Address: 301 Forestview Drive

Web site/email address: www.stephenbuff.com / sbuff@triad.rr.com

Previous elective experience: None

Other relevant experience (boards and commissions, etc.): Past President of Olde Forest Racquet Club.

Why have you chosen to run for this office? I want to help my town make well thought-out, logical, cost-effective decisions that are in the best interest of the entire town.

Key qualifications you would bring to the job: Logical, project management experience, interest in the town as a whole, fiscally conservative, time to do the job right (retired).

Family: My wife, Linda, and I have three children and four grandchildren.

What distinguishes you most from your opponents? I’m not an incumbent.

Please list the top three issues in Elon and your stances on those issues:
1. The town is faced with a budget shortfall, due to such things as reduced revenue from sales and gasoline taxes. At the same time, the town is trying to decide how to finance a new library as well as other new expenses. I would like to help make the decisions that would allow the town to operate within its means, just as I do. The town is not in debt now (a very good thing) and I would like to keep it that way.

If you were to give Elon a letter grade on its effectiveness in managing growth, what would it be?
I think the town has handled growth well. “A.”

What vote or decision of the current council would you overturn? Why do you disagree with the decision? I disagreed with the decision to put the new library in Beth Schmidt Park instead of the Ball Park Field near downtown.
The reasons (which seem to be growing the more its discussed, and many of which were not made known at the Board of Aldermen meeting in which this issue was decided) are: The ball park field is centrally located for the residents of Elon. More land near the park needed to be purchased (my guess is in the range of $230,000 to $260,000) during a time that (as mentioned above) money is very tight. The University had offered the field for that purpose for $1. Difficulty in providing Fire and EMT services to the Beth Schmidt Park site. Difficulty in providing water and sewer services to the Beth Schmidt Park site. This was a last really good chance for the town to have more of a presence downtown (other than the Town Hall). Also, although it was argued that the ball park field site was in a dangerous spot, due to high traffic volume, the Beth Schmidt Park site will soon be along side a four-lane highway.