Q & A: Town Council Candidate Dwight Dopilka

The Town Council will hold a special election on Tuesday, April 17 to fill the remainder of Councilman Ken Reid's term, expiring on Dec. 31, 2014. He was recently elected to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, last year. 

Two candidates are running for the open seat. Among them is Leesburg resident and liaison to the Leesburg Executive Airport Commission Dwight Dopilka. 

Below are his responses to a number of questions that were asked during an interview late last week:

DWIGHT DOPILKA

Q: How has your campaign been going?
A: I think it’s going well. We’ve reached a lot of people door to door and I’ve enjoyed canvassing the precincts and hearing what people have to say.

Q: What are some of the concerns you’ve heard from voters, which you hope to address as a Town Council member?
A: They ran from high personal property taxes to high water rates for people. I had a couple people in regards to the property taxes that were telling me that they may have to move out of Leesburg to another part of the state because of the tax.

Some other issues that I heard were transportation and pedestrian access.

Q: If you could choose one issue that is most important to you what would it be?
A: We’ve made a lot of great progress in our budgeting process and planning for the future. I think we need to continue to make progress and look for additional ways to save money.

The town budget I think can be reviewed to look for ways to save the taxpayer money. I really want to provide tax relief and get the town rate down primarily from a personal property tax rate standpoint.

I’d also like to provide business property tax relief through bringing additional businesses into Leesburg so we can grow the economy, provide additional jobs and provide tax relief to both the citizens and businesses in our town.  

Q: What is one thing that you support most in the Town of Leesburg?
A: I would say the efforts in preserving the historic nature of the town. This has been an ongoing task for the Town Council, the Mayor and the Town Manager. It’s a constant issue as new development comes in. It’s clear that the Town Council needs to be good stewards of how development is proceeding in Leesburg, specifically the downtown historical district.

I believe the downtown historical nature is a good success story.

Q: How do you feel about the upcoming election?
A:  I’m pretty optimistic. My opponent has more experience but I think when people look at our approaches to how we learn to provide leadership, responsibilities and our ideas I think the choice is pretty clear. For me, in my campaign, it’s a step in building on the successes of the past and improving for the future. In my opinion if people choose another person, my opponent, we’re taking a step back. Ultimately the people will have to make that decision. So it’s either a choice of the future or a choice of going back to policies that have failed in the past. To me it boils down to that.

Q: What is one thing that you would like the voters to know about you before heading to the polls on Tuesday?
A: I am a transparent, authentic, genuine, generally concerned person. That’s my personality. I’m an honest person. I won’t sugar coat what I believe is the truth and what I believe my opinion is. I don’t have any hidden agendas. What I say is what I mean.

I don’t like the term politician because that has negative connotations now a days of deceit, fraud, deal making and everything else. I want to consider myself as a public servant representing the people first and foremost.  I’m not seeking public office for publicity and to get rich. I’m seeking it because I believe this is a calling to represent the people of Leesburg.

To read more about Dwight Dopilka check out more  of his campaign coverage on Leesburg Patch.