Candidates for McHenry County Cities and Villages

The Crystal Lake Main Beach House is used as a polling place by two precincts.

The Crystal Lake Main Beach House is used as a polling place by two precincts.

I’ve finally pinned down all who are running for municipal office in cities and villages having all or part of their boundaries within McHenry County.

The names have been listed in ballot order.  That makes little difference unless there are more than six or more candidates.

Incumbents have an “(I)” after their names.

Interestingly, there are a couple where there are fewer candidates than openings.

Algonquin Village Trustee

  • Jim Steigert (I)
  • Deborah Sosine (I)
  • John Spella (I)
  • Kerry Stallard
  • Sandra K. Robertson

Barrington Hills Village Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Mary Naumann
  • Karen Selman (I)
  • Patty Meroni (I)
  • Bryan C. Croll
  • Michelle Nagy Maison
  • Brian D. Cecola

Bull Valley Village President (Four-year term)

  • Emily Berendt

Bull Valley Village Trustee (3 four-year openings, 1 two-year)

Four-year term

  • Margaret Bailey (I)
  • Bjorn Mattsson
  • Peter Helms (I)

Two-year term

  • Kurt Kleinschmidt

Cary Village Trustee ( 3 four-year terms)

  • Erin Hauck
  • Ellen McAlpine
  • Steven Degnan-Schmidt

Crystal Lake Mayor (Four-year term)

  • Aaron Shepley (I)

Crystal Lake City Council (3 four-year terms)

  • Cathy Ferguson (I)
  • Brett Hopkins (I)
  • Ellen Brady Mueller (I)

Fox Lake Council (3 four-year terms)

  • Greg Murray
  • Brian Marr
  • Nancy Koske (I)
  • Jonathon Mumford

Fox River Grove Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Patrick Wall
  • Jennifer Curtiss
  • Steve Knar (I)
  • Christopher Russell
  • Chester Olencheck

Greenwood Village President (Four-year term)

  • John Ferris (I)

Greenwood Village Trustees (3 for four-year terms)

  • Sarah-Grace Ferris
  • No second candidate
  • No third candidate

Harvard Alderman

  • First Ward – Duffield Seyller, Ron Burlingame
  • Second Ward – Scott Logan, Crystal Musgrove (I), Michael Kelly
  • Third Ward – Mike Clarke (I), Robert O’Halloran
  • Fourth Ward – Jeremy Adams (I)

Hebron Village Trustee –  (3 four-year and 1 two year openings)

Four-year term

  • Mark Mogan (I)
  • Mark Shepherd (I)
  • Kimmy Martinez
  • Steve Vole
  • Lisa Georgi
  • Steve Cook

Two-year term

  • Peter Canfield

Holiday Hills Village Trustee (3 four-year slots)

  • Cheryl Thompson
  • Donald W. Powell
  • Ken Anderson (I)
  • Louis E. French
  • Jennifer Osterman-Keyes (I)

Huntley Village Trustee (3  four-year seats)

  • Harry Leopold (I)
  • Niko Kanakaris (I)
  • Darci Chandler
  • Tim Hoeft
  • Pam Fender (withdrew because moving)

Island Lake Trustee (3 four-year seats)

  • John Burke (People’s Alliance)
  • Debra Jenkins (People’s Alliance)
  • Sandy Hartogh (People’s Alliance)
  • Thea Morris (I)

Johnsburg Village Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Mary Lou Hutchison (I)
  • Kyle Frost
  • Thomas Curry
  • Richard Janusz (I)

Lake in the Hills Trustee (3 four-year spots)

  • Frank Covone (I)
  • Bill Dustin (Ran for Village President in 2013)
  • Russ Ruzansk (I)
  • Tyna Zarecky
  • Ray Bogdanowski (I)
  • Paula Yensen (former County Board member and Village Trustee)

Lakemoor Village Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Donald Leavitt
  • Jeffrey Nykaza (I)
  • No third candidate

Lakewood Village Trustee (3 four-year openings)

  • J. Carl Davis (I)
  • Ken Santowski (I)
  • Gary Sexson II (I)

Marengo City Alderman (4 four-year terms)

  • Ward 1 – James Regelin, Noel Gaines
  • Ward 2 – Michael Smith (I), Chester Mazurkiewicz
  • Ward 3 – Todd Hall (I), Dennis Moehling
  • Ward 4 – Peter Hunt, Dale Eeg, Brett Martin

McCullom Lake (1 two-year and three four-year terms)

Four-year term

  • Marilyn Shepit (I)
  • Nancy Matthesius (I)
  • Michael Walter (I)

Two-year term

  • Dana Burroughs-Glave (I)

McHenry Alderman (4 four-year terms)

  • Ward 2 – James Walsh, Andy Glab (I)
  • Ward 4 – Scott Curry, Geoffrey Blake (I)
  • Ward 6 – Cecilia Serritella, Robert Peterson (I)
  • Ward 7 – Geraldine Condon (I)

Oakwood Hills Village President (Two-year term)

  • Paul Smith (I)

Oakwood Hills Village Trustees (3 four-year and 3 two-year terms)

Four-year term

  • Kristina Zahorik (I)
  • Patrick M. Riley (I)
  • Chad Rider (I)
  • Mark Wise

Two-year term

  • Kerry Leigh (I)
  • Mary Beth Salvo (I)
  • No third candidate

Port Barrington (3 four-year terms and 1 two-year term)

Four-year term

  • Keith Vogeler (I)
  • Dawn Cillo
  • Jim Zoller

Two-year term

  • Bradley Sterling

Prairie Grove Trustees (One 2-year and 3 four-year terms)

Four-year term

  • Charolette Kremer (I)
  • Michael E. Breseman (I)
  • David Robak (I)
  • Paula Dorian-Gray

Two-year term

  • Everett H. Pratt (I)
  • Arthur Stevens, Jr.

Richmond Village Trustee (3 four-year spots)

  • Craig Kunz (I)
  • Stanley Maravelias
  • Charlotte Hollenbach (I)
  • David Kielpinski (I)
  • David Nelson

Ringwood Village President (Four-year term)

  • Rick Mack (I)

Ringwood Village Trustees (3 four-year terms)

  • Kevin Bauer
  • Charlie Klimkowski
  • Gary Reinwall (I)

Spring Grove Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Randall E. Vinyard
  • Steven Bishop
  • Ron Kopke (I)
  • Jim Anhalt (I)
  • Ted T. Trzaskowski
  • Ryne T. Powell

Trout Valley Village President (Four-year term)

  • Brian Krueger
  • Robert W. Baker (I)

Trout Valley Village Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • Kristin Purtill (I)
  • Todd Somers (I)
  • Michael Murphy

Union Village Trustee (3 four-year spots)

  • Stanley McDonald (I)
  • Debora Pace (I)
  • Mike Swanson

Wonder Lake Village President

  • Anthony Topf (I)
  • John Hohol

Wonder Lake Village Clerk

  • Jo-Ellen McIntosh (I)

Wonder Lake Village Trustee (3 four-year terms)

  • John Naatz (I)
  • Larry Reinhard (I)
  • Kimbrerly Windler
  • William Bacon

Woodstock City Council (3 four-year terms)

  • Mark Saladin (I)
  • Maureen Larson (I)
  • Daniel V. Lemanski
  • Don Frick
  • Gregory A Hanson
  • Scott Gessert
  • Robert J. Beardsley
  • Daniel T. Hart

Comments

Candidates for McHenry County Cities and Villages — 4 Comments

  1. I am disappointed in how many races are not contested, especially here in my home town of Lakewood.

    The Lakewood Village Board just demonstrated that they do not care about the democratic process, that they are perfectly willing to bend or ignore the rules to get their way. In short, that, in their minds, the end justifies the means.

    Let me be clear. I think the SportsPlex is unlikely to succeed, but that is NOT my point. And I think TIFs in general are a bad idea, but THAT is not my point either.

    My point is about how the democratic process is supposed to work and about violating the principles on which this government is founded.

    With the exception of Ken Santowski, every member of the board had decided the TIF district is a good idea for Lakewood and they were determined to find a legalistic, technical way to get the deal done, even though the evidence was overwhelming that, in substance, they did not meet the laws’ tests.

    The law says TIF districts are for blighted areas. The agricultural land at 47 & 176 is not blighted by any substantial definition. Neither is a beautiful golf course. But the Board had no problem ignoring the facts and finding a consultant and an attorney willing to say those properties technically meet the law’s requirements.

    And TIF districts are to be used only if they meet the “but for” test, meaning that “but for” the TIF district, development would not occur. The purpose of this test is to prevent municipalities from giving away the taxpayers’ money unnecessarily.

    We know this area does not meet the “but for” test. Gene Furey said explicitly at the last meeting that development would come to that corridor. And we have seen other property along Route 47 develop, so there is no reason to suspect this property won’t develop in the proper time. We have seen three different academic studies that prove that TIF districts in Illinois have been singularly ineffective in promoting development that would not have occurred anyway. And we know that the consultant the Village hired has approved every single TIF district he was hired to approve, and has never examined whether the TIF districts he approved actually generated additional growth.

    It’s almost as if the consultant had an obvious incentive to give an affirmative answer.

    But the Village board had no problem approving the TIF district anyway.

    If any other board had approved a project that these same people opposed, these same people would have been aghast at the abuse of the process.

    But because they themselves violated the principles and the purpose for which the law was written, and because they did it for a project they like, they can’t seem to see that breaking the rules to get their way is a violation of democratic principles, and that that is more important than winning. They cannot seem to see that the end does not justify the means.

    I would like to see them try to explain their actions to a freshman civics class. I would like to see how they would react if their children came home and bragged about how they’d used technicalities to avoid telling a customer the whole truth, but they made the sale! Would they be proud of the children they had raised?

    And I can tell you one other thing: I’d be very cautious about ever doing business with any of these board members. They’ve already demonstrated their willingness to cut corners to get their way. Would you trust them if they were your accountant, your realtor, or your accountant?

    That they pushed this project through shortly after the deadline for opponents to file for election does not surprise me.

    It’s bad enough when you see this kind of abuse in Cook County. But in our little village of 4,000? The fact that the stakes are so petty almost makes the violation worse.

    The board members should be ashamed of themselves.
    I am disappointed in how many races are not contested, especially here in my home town of Lakewood.

    The Lakewood Village Board just demonstrated that they do not care about the democratic process, that they are perfectly willing to bend or ignore the rules to get their way. In short, that, in their minds, the end justifies the means.

    Let me be clear. I think the SportsPlex is unlikely to succeed, but that is NOT my point. And I think TIFs in general are a bad idea, but THAT is not my point either.

    My point is about how the democratic process is supposed to work and about violating the principles on which this government is founded.

    With the exception of Ken Santowski, every member of the board had decided the TIF district is a good idea for Lakewood and they were determined to find a legalistic, technical way to get the deal done, even though the evidence was overwhelming that, in substance, they did not meet the laws’ tests.

    The law says TIF districts are for blighted areas. The agricultural land at 47 & 176 is not blighted by any substantial definition. Neither is a beautiful golf course. But the Board had no problem ignoring the facts and finding a consultant and an attorney willing to say those properties technically meet the law’s requirements.

    And TIF districts are to be used only if they meet the “but for” test, meaning that “but for” the TIF district, development would not occur. The purpose of this test is to prevent municipalities from giving away the taxpayers’ money unnecessarily.

    We know this area does not meet the “but for” test. Gene Furey said explicitly at the last meeting that development would come to that corridor. And we have seen other property along Route 47 develop, so there is no reason to suspect this property won’t develop in the proper time. We have seen three different academic studies that prove that TIF districts in Illinois have been singularly ineffective in promoting development that would not have occurred anyway. And we know that the consultant the Village hired has approved every single TIF district he was hired to approve, and has never examined whether the TIF districts he approved actually generated additional growth.

    It’s almost as if the consultant had an obvious incentive to give an affirmative answer.

    But the Village board had no problem approving the TIF district anyway.

    If any other board had approved a project that these same people opposed, these same people would have been aghast at the abuse of the process.

    But because they themselves violated the principles and the purpose for which the law was written, and because they did it for a project they like, they can’t seem to see that breaking the rules to get their way is a violation of democratic principles, and that that is more important than winning. They cannot seem to see that the end does not justify the means.

    I would like to see them try to explain their actions to a freshman civics class. I would like to see how they would react if their children came home and bragged about how they’d used technicalities to avoid telling a customer the whole truth, but they made the sale! Would they be proud of the children they had raised?

    And I can tell you one other thing: I’d be very cautious about ever doing business with any of these board members. They’ve already demonstrated their willingness to cut corners to get their way. Would you trust them if they were your accountant, your realtor, or your accountant?

    That they pushed this project through shortly after the deadline for opponents to file for election does not surprise me.

    It’s bad enough when you see this kind of abuse in Cook County. But in our little village of 4,000? The fact that the stakes are so petty almost makes the violation worse.

    The board members should be ashamed of themselves.

  2. I wonder how many posters this blog would have if it was a requirement to have ‘served’ in public office before you could comment on issues.

    If someone tries to win a seat on the County Board you should be able to make meetings during daytime working hours and as a consequence people who still have to ‘earn’ a living are not going to seriously consider such an effort.

    However, almost every race enumerated in this post has no such requirement.

    Where are all the candidates?

    You can find them in the same place on election day.

    Until we have a total collapse of our society, these people will NOT be motivated to run for office or to even vote and then just like the Holocaust, it will be too late.

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