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player ready...Mark Albers, who served as the Morton Grove Library Board president for nearly three years, has declared his candidacy for the village board.
He is running as an independent candidate in the April general election.
That means he will not be taking part in the February Action Party primary, which has six candidates vying for four slots.
The Action Party slated two sitting trustees, John Thill and Janine Witko, but snubbed two other sitting trustees, Shel Marcus and Maria Toth. Instead, they drafted Rita Minx, a former trustee, and Ed Ramos, the village clerk.
Marcus and Toth have said they will run in the Action Party primary.
Albers, 53, said he chose to run because he has lived in Morton Grove for 28 years and doesn’t like what he has been seeing.
“The current one-party rule isn’t good for this town,” he said.
“I think we’ve got the president of the Action Party dictating to that group, and the village president telling the trustees what they need to do.”
Albers, who was elected to the library board in 2011 and is currently that board’s treasurer, said he has worked with Village Administrator Ryan Horne on the library’s budget.
“We have to prepare budgets that adhere to what the village needs,” Albers said. “I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done.”
The village has been focusing on economic development for the past two years, but Albers said he’s not seeing the fruits of that.
“They may be emphasizing economic development, but I don’t think the town’s actually realizing it,” Albers said.
Asked what he would do differently, he said he wants to get on the inside to find out what the village needs to do to be successful. As a business consultant, he said he wants to apply his talents to benefit the village.
Albers is circulating petitions this week and plans to file his candidacy on Dec. 22.