Election 2011: Sorting It All Out

It’s been nearly a week since voters in all of Oswego’s taxing bodies let their voices be heard.

With voter turnout (16 percent countywide) only a few percentage points higher than 2009’s figures, winning candidates have been warned by the losers that claiming a mandate from the results would be a stretch.  Maybe they're right in some respects, but a win is a win. All that matters in an election is who gets the most votes.

With that being said, let’s take a look at the races for village president, trustee, District 308 school board, park district and the senior services referendum and try to make some sense of it all.

Incumbent Brian LeClercq was able to hold on to his seat despite a strong challenge from trustee and longtime resident Judy Sollinger and conservative neophyte Philip Smith.

LeClercq bested Sollinger by about 400 votes. Smith grabbed about 650 votes, and in the end did not hurt LeClercq from whom he might have been more likely to take votes. 

LeClercq wasted little time last week in making the first decision of his new term. Wednesday he asked outgoing Village Administrator Gary Adams to step aside while Police Chief Dwight Baird was named interim administrator. Adams had agreed to stay on to June 3, but LeClercq said it was important to start the transition from Adams’ time at Village Hall as quickly as possible.

Rumors flew around town last week that Baird had escorted Adams from Village Hall, but witnesses said Baird was in a meeting with staff as Adams vacated his office.

Adams said after his resignation last month that he did not want to leave town on a negative note. That he hasn’t publicly discussed last week’s events may be his way of doing that.

LeClercq said one of his first agenda items will be to find a permanent replacement for Adams, who came to the village five years ago.

The trustee race provided the most excitement election night as newcomer Amanda Mancke and and incumbent Terry Michels were neck and neck all night.  In the end Michels bested Mancke by 17 votes. Mancke said she wouldn’t concede the race until all absentee votes were counted and the vote certified.

Later in the week, word came that there were only about 20 absentee votes outstanding. The chances of Mancke eclipsing Michels seem virtually impossible. And when I spoke to her at the Chamber’s Business and Consumer Expo on Saturday, Mancke seemed resigned to not taking a seat on the board.  Michels could not be reached for comment this week to discuss his re-election.

Business owner and former chamber President Gail Johnson gained the most votes of all trustee candidates with incumbent Tony Giles coming in second. Giles said after the election he has a renewed sense of optimism with Johnson taking a seat. Giles and LeClercq both said Johnson’s positive spirit and attitude will be a breath of fresh air for the board.

Trustee David Schlaker, who only days before the election asked Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office to investigate potential Open Meetings Act violations among fellow trustees, will not return to the board. Schlaker said last week the election results do not mean the end for his push to have the violations investigated.

Three new faces will take seats on the District 308 board at its April 25 meeting. Bill Walsh, Brent Lightfoot and Alison Swanson will have a full plate almost immediately with upcoming teacher contract negotiations and a decision due about whether construction of a third high school will continue.

Walsh and Lightfoot made it clear in the campaign that they plan to do everything in their power to stop the third high school from being built, while Swanson restated last week that the district needs to take a new look at enrollment projections before a third high school goes forward.

With only one member remaining on the board (David Behrens) who voted for the third high school last year, stopping it in the coming weeks may not be too difficult if another vote on the issue should come before the board.

Another big decision in the coming months will be whether to sell all or parts of the remaining funds from 2006’s $450 million referendum. The district has the ability to sell about $280 million more in bonds before the deadline to do so comes in November. Walsh said last week he sees no reason to sell bonds for school buildings that aren’t currently needed.

Two experienced political hands will join the Oswegoland Park District Board. Republican precinct committeeman and active local politico Len Wass and former Kendall County Board member Roy White won seats over incumbents Mark Slover and Michael Satlak.

Wass and White ran on a platform of what they said was a plan to curb grand overspending at the park district. Board President Bob Mattingly also will rejoin the board and often will be at odds with Wass and White.

The election of Wass and White likely won’t affect any of the park district’s programs, as board members Deb Krase and Danielle Ebersole have vowed to join Mattingly in stopping the pair from cutting services.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected the Oswego Township referendum question that would have levied a special tax to help fund senior services in the township. The Oswego Senior Center would have been a major beneficiary of the tax increase and

Executive Director Bob Wyngard wrote in comments on Oswego Patch last week that he was satisfied with the fairness in the coverage of the referendum and plans to redouble his efforts in fundraising for the Senior Center.

“Our job of selling the concept and the need fell short and we will do a better job next time," Wyngard wrote. "In the meantime, we will be continuing to search for ways to do things better and cheaper.”