More Top Picks Best Bread Boxes For Freshness
player ready...Wilmette and Kenilworth voters will have mixed bag of contested and uncontested races awaiting them on the April 4 consolidated election ballot.
In Wilmette, Village President Bob Bielinski is unopposed as he seeks his second four-year term, while one-term Trustee Carol Ducommun is leaving her village post to return to the New Trier Township High School District 203 board, where she previously served.
Four people are vying for three four-year trustee seats on the village’s board: those currently held by Ducommun and by retiring trustees Ted McKenna and Cameron Krueger, both of whom have served their second and final terms. Seeking to replace them, according to the village website, are Reinhard Schneider, currently a member of the village’s zoning board of appeals; Kathy Dodd, Stephen M. Leonard, and Joel Kurzman.
The Wilmette Park District will also have a contested race, according to Executive Director Steve Wilson. Four people are running for three four-year terms. Incumbents Amy Wolfe and Bryan Abbott are seeking new terms, while Gordon Anderson, appointed in October 2015 to complete the unfinished term of former commissioner Jim Crowley, is running for the four-year seat now held by board president John Olvany. In turn, Olvany is running for the final two years of Crowley’s term, Wilson said.
The two other contested elections on Wilmette voters’ ballots are in Wilmette School District 39 and Avoca School District 37, according to the Cook County Clerk’s office.
In School District 39, four seats, currently held by board members Cindy Levine, Kimberly Alcantara, John Flanagin, and Mark Steen, are open. Only Steen, of Wilmette, is running again. Four other people have filed to run, according to the clerk’s office: Lisa Schneider-Fabes of Wilmette, who ran unsuccessfully in 2015 for a board position; Jonathan Cesaretti and Ellen Sternweiler, both of Wilmette; and Gail Szulc, of Glenview.
Five people are running for four Avoca District 37 four-year terms. Incumbent Rick Zelinsky of Northfield is running again; also on the ballot are Gil Gibori of Winnetka, Jamie Taylor of Winnetka, Dan E. Garbis of Wilmette, and Jun E. Yoshitani, also of Wilmette. Current board members Rosanne M. Ullman, William S. Bazianos and board president Jeffrey Greengoss are not running again.
Four candidates slated last fall by the New Trier School Board Caucus are the only people running for four four-year terms on the New Trier High School board, according to the Cook County Clerk’s office.
That includes current school board member Greg Robitaille, of Winnetka; Ducommon, of Wilmette; Keith Dronen of Wilmette, a former Wilmette School District 39 board member; and Marc Glucksman, who is now a member of the Glencoe School District 35 board.
All races in Kenilworth are uncontested, according to the Kenilworth Village Manager’s office and Park District Executive Director Johnathan Kiwala.
Three four-year trustee spots on the Kenilworth Village Board are open: those now held by Scott Lien, Kevin Lennon, and Ann Potter. Potter is running unopposed for the village president’s seat, which is up and for which current village president Bill Russell is not running again. Lien is seeking another term, and Cecily Kaz and Jeff Bedwell are running for the other two trustee spots. Timothy D. Ransford is running unopposed for the position of village clerk; Village Clerk James R. McClamroch is not running again.
The election for three four-year Kenilworth Park Board commission terms is uncontested: incumbent commissioner Tim Simonds, who was appointed to fill former commissioner Kevin Flannery’s uncompleted term, is running for a full four-year term. The other candidates are William T. Bartholomay and John W. Hart, according to Kiwala.
In Joseph Sears School District 38, four seats are open, according to the Cook County Clerk’s office: incumbent Suzanne Nelson is running again, while incumbents Tim Kollar, Scott Wallace and Stacey Van Metre are not. Running for their seats are John Gottschall, Melissa Ross and Eric Jungbluth.
All uncontested seats will be won by acclamation, barring a contest by write-in candidates. According to the Cook County Clerk’s office, the last day to file notification of a write-in candidacy for the April 4 election is Feb. 2.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy