The village of Round Lake appears to have a new mayor-elect, with controversy over two local projects helping propel Trustee Brian Brubaker to an overwhelming 60-point victory over incumbent Russell Kraly, according to unofficial results.
Brubaker received 79.93% of the vote compared to Kraly’s 20.07%, or 916-230 votes, according to the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
Kraly began his tenure as mayor in 2021. Brubaker will take office in early May.
Brubaker, who promised “better economic development and improved transparency,” said he found people were “hungry to be listened to” during his campaigning. The outcome was a “referendum” from voters that has left him “humbled.”
“It’s a little nerve-wracking too, because they’re going to expect things from us right now,” he said. “Campaigning was the easy part. Now we have to go do the work.”
Brubaker has lived in Round Lake since 1997, and has raised his family in the community. He previously served as a trustee in 2006, and returned to the board in 2022. He’s held several community positions, including as a football coach and board member of the local PTO.
At the center of the controversy that he said led to Tuesday night’s lopsided results are two plots of land that Brubaker argued have been poorly managed.
The first, sitting near Route 120 and Fairfield Road, was proposed to be developed into a ski hill back in 2022. The project proved unpopular, with residents worrying that developer Dan Powell would take material from his nearby materials recycling business to build the hill, a claim Powell denied at the time.
While the project failed to move forward, the debate kickstarted a grassroots campaign by locals that helped put Brubaker onto the Village Board.
The second property is Powell’s recycling center, leased to him from the village, sitting near the intersection of 120 and Wilson Road, which Brubaker called “mud hill.” Back in the 2000s, the property had been planned to be a 300-bed hospital, but the plans for the development ultimately collapsed.
Brubaker said he wants the land restored after Powell’s lease ends in a few years so the village can “court developers.”
Last Tuesday’s results were a reflection of voters who felt “ignored” by the current leadership, Brubaker said. While he considers Kraly to be a “nice” and “genuinely good person” with decades of government service under his belt, the people have spoken, he said.
“I think he just thinks government should run the way it did 40 or 50 years ago,” Brubaker said. “And we’re learning real quick that the people don’t want the government to run like that.”
Kraly is also a longtime area resident and has served in a variety of local government positions over the decades, including as a trustee, building inspector and administrator. Like Brubaker, Kraly has also coached locally, from football to softball.
With his time as mayor soon to be over, Kraly said it is high time he enjoys retirement. There is family to see and travelling to do, he said.
“I like vegetable gardening and painting pictures,” Kraly said. “I won a few contests over the years, so I’d like to go and do that. Seems you never find enough time when you’re working with the village.”
Last week’s results were not a surprise to the incumbent. Kraly said he was well aware of the controversies surrounding the ski hill and the recycling center. In regards to the ski hill, he questions the focus on the issue, which he pointed out was ultimately voted down.
“I never really understood what all the commotion was about because, in the end, the process worked,” he said.
He argued the recycling center, Brubaker’s “mud hill,” was the best option the village had in a bad situation. It was an issue he had inherited from the previous mayor, and multiple attempts to court developers proved unsuccessful after the failure of the hospital project.
“We couldn’t sell it, we couldn’t give it away,” Kraly said. “I know everybody is up in arms (about the recycling center), but you know what? It’s ugly, but it did pay us.”
He also defended the environmental benefits of the recycling center, which he argues does important work to take construction materials and turn them into something useful. Kraly said he knew going in that the issues would be unpopular, and “nothing I could say” would change peoples’ perspectives.
“I knew we were going to take a lot of heat for it,” he said.
But despite the messy end to a long career, he said he has “no hard feelings.” Kraly emphasized his local roots and reflected on the good he said he has managed to do during his time leading the village, including bringing in new staff, upgrading computer systems and hiring new department heads.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” Kraly said. “We’ve made great strides. We’ve got a great group of people working for the village.”
