Political hopefuls seek chance to govern new village

At least 25 residents of the soon-to-be Village of Campton Hills, including some naysayers, have applied to become charter members of Kane County’s newest municipal government, officials said.

Kane County citizens committees that spearheaded the successful campaign to incorporate parts of Campton and Plato Townships will accept applications until 5 p.m. Saturday from residents seeking to fill two-year terms as village mayor, clerk or one of six trustees.

Pending a county canvass and certification of the April 17 election results, the Committee to Incorporate Campton Hills will appear May 14 in Circuit Court in Geneva to seek an order officially creating the village of about 10,000 residents.

All the would-be candidates for mayor, clerk and village trustees will be interviewed Sunday by members of the Committee to Incorporate, the boards of the Preserve Campton group and the Preserve Fox Valley Political Action Committee.

Based on unofficial election results, the incorporation proposal garnered nearly 55 percent of the vote. About half the registered voters participated.

With no set rules or procedures to follow, the task of choosing and recommending a charter group of village officials to the Circuit Court for approval is nearly as challenging as the effort to get the incorporation referendum measure on the ballot and approved, said Patsy Smith, chairman of the incorporation committee.

Smith said she is one of five people who worked on the incorporation effort and who have applied to be recommended for various village posts.

“The majority of the [26] people that have applied had nothing to do with the [incorporation] committees, and several of them were objectors,” Smith said.

The roughly 8,500 registered voters in Campton Hills will get their first opportunity to vote in April 2009.

The final slate of eight candidates to be submitted to Circuit Court Judge Michael Colwell for approval will be determined at a Thursday forum, Smith said. Only the 500 registered voters who signed the petition asking that the incorporation issue be placed on the April ballot have been invited, she said.

The location of the forum is still undetermined, Smith said.

“The petitioners ultimately will be the ones making the recommendations,” she said. “This is kind of a fluid thing. We are going to try to be fair, but there is no prescribed system on how to do this.”

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