There wasn’t much drama in the latest local municipal elections, but many of the various boards will soon have some new perspective.
Lake Forest and Lake Bluff residents went to the polls on April 1, selecting candidates for several offices including local governing bodies and the public school boards. While turnout was low in the mostly uncontested elections, voters now have their representation in place.
A rare challenged election occurred at Lake Bluff District 65, where voters had to select from five candidates vying for four seats.
It was a good night for the three incumbents, Carrie Steinbach, Lauren Hirsh and Tim Penich were all re-elected to new four-year terms, according to the Lake County Clerk’s website.
The new member of the elementary school board will be Andrew Carlson, the principal of the Regional Lake County Safe School. He received 480 votes with Kimberly Bourne Saccaro falling short with 417.
In a separate part of the ballot, incumbent Richard Driver received 705 votes to fill out the last two years of a term. Driver was appointed to the board, filling a vacancy created upon the resignation of a previous member early in the term. Under Illinois law, a special election was held to fill out the last two years. Driver was the only declared candidate.
Also in Lake Bluff, Village President Regis Charlot received 707 votes in his uncontested race for a second four-year term. He will preside over a village board where voters gave incumbents Taryn Fisher and Susan Rider new four-year stints. A new member of the board will be Village Clerk Raffi Elchemmas, who will replace Mary Cole, as she did not seek re-election after her unsuccessful bid for Lake County State’s Attorney last November.
Elsewhere, there will be four new Lake Bluff Park District commissioners with the election of Carrie Welles, Andrew Henkel, McCamie Cole, and Ben Grum. They will replace incumbents Niki Walsh, Scott Weber, Susan Raymoure and Ann Rieder. Those four did not seek re-election.
At the Lake Bluff Public Library Board, President Bonnie Shaul was re-elected to a new term. Courtney Heck, who was listed on the ballot, will join her on the governing body along with Kathleen Reidy, a write-in candidate.
Shaul said a vacancy remains, and the rest of the board is seeking applications to appoint a resident. The changes occur as incumbents William Hayes, Matt Zaute and Jenny Graziano did not ask voters for another term on the library board.
In Lake Forest, the Lake Forest Caucus-endorsed slate all ran in uncontested elections.
The candidate group included Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack, who was elected for a second two-year term, receiving 1,305 votes. He will see many familiar faces on the City Council as incumbents Peter Clemens (1st), John Powers (2nd), and Richard Walther (4th) will be returning upon receiving new two-year terms from the voters.
One new member of the City Council will be Nick Bothfeld, set to represent the third ward. Bothfeld will succeed Ara Goshgarian, who is stepping down after serving the traditional three two-year terms.
At Lake Forest District 67, four candidates were running for four seats on the elementary school board. Incumbent Gregory Adamo will return with residents Lori Ann Fitzgerald, Timo Berger and Jerry Lavin elected to join the board. They will replace incumbents Emily Bernahl, Carl Kirar and Shyama Parikh Chauhan who did not seek for new terms.
There will also be some new voices of the School District 115 board, which oversees Lake Forest High School.
Incumbent Annie Geraghty Helms, a Lake Forest resident, was elected to a four-year term after being appointed to the board last year to fill a vacancy.
New members on the seven-member high school board will include Lake Forest’s Robert Silvay and Lake Bluff’s Gail Gamrath and Amy Donohue.
Traditionally, the seven-member board is composed five Lake Forest residents and two people from the Lake Bluff area.
District 115 incumbents David Burns, Sally Davis and John Venson did not run for re-election.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
