Oswego voters Tuesday appear to have elected a new village president and three new trustees for the Village Board.
The race for village president was between former trustee and financial consultant Ryan Kauffman, a Democrat, and incumbent Republican Troy Parlier.
According to unofficial final Kendall County election results, Kauffman had 54.88% of the vote with Parlier getting 45.12%
Parlier, an Oswego junior high school math and technology teacher, defeated incumbent Gail Johnson for village president in a three-way race in 2019.
In this election, he touted the village’s economic expansion and reduction of taxes since he took office.
“We have been able to make tax cuts, build the treasury and increase services,” Parlier said during the campaign.
Kauffman said housing developments were being pushed through the process without proper infrastructure in place and there wasn’t sufficient communication regarding the new Lake Michigan water connection and how it will affect water rates.
“I am still taking it all in,” Kauffman said of Tuesday’s results. “I thought we had a pretty good shot. The voters thought we were worth voting for. I am ready to get to work and serve the people of Oswego.”
He said people had issues with decisions for housing developments “being pushed through the process without proper infrastructure in place and putting a strain on community resources.”
“People don’t have issues with rental properties. It was the speed and quantity at which the rental properties were coming in,” Kauffman said. “People said that’s enough. Let’s pump the breaks and let the infrastructure and community catch up.”
The number of video gambling licenses that have been approved was another issue in the campaign, he said.
“There are 24 gaming licenses right now in the village. That’s a lot. You are seeing them in gas stations and car washes on every corner. Another six are on the way,” he said.
Voters don’t want that much gambling in the community, he said.
“People were feeling overwhelmed with it,” Kauffman said.
Kauffman said Parlier sent him a congratulatory note in a text and he responded back with his thanks for Parlier’s four years of service to Oswego as village president.
Kauffman said among his priorities will be to “repair” the relationship with the Oswego-based School District 308 Board of Education.
“It’s no secret Oswego and the school district have not been on the best of terms,” he said. “I would like to fix the relationship, set a cap on gaming licenses and pump the brakes on rental property projects and see more single-family housing development.”
“We have some big infrastructure projects – the water source and Wolf’s Crossing Road improvements. Those are projects we will have to tackle,” he said.
Parlier ran on a slate with Republican Village Board candidates James Marter II and Terry Olson, both incumbents, and Jason Kapus, a member of the Oswego Planning and Zoning Commission.
Kauffman ran on a slate with Democratic Village Board candidates Karen McCarthy-Lange and Luis Perez, both former trustees, as well as newcomer Andrew Torres.
The top three vote-getters in the trustee race would win seats on the Village Board.
More Top Picks Best Corner Desks For Small Spaces
According to unofficial final results, McCarthy-Lange had 19.63% of the vote, Torres had 18.53%, Perez received 18.46%, Olson had 15.19%, Kapus had 14.10% and Marter had 14.09%.
“You would think having a solid record for four years is enough to keep another four years but voters decided otherwise,” Marter said Tuesday night.
He said he is proud of what the Village Board accomplished in the past four years.
“We started generational projects with the selection of the Lake Michigan water source and the beginning of the Wolf’s Crossing Road improvements,” he said.
Marter said the village is in good shape financially.
“The village is operating amazingly right now. That’s what matters to me,” he said. “Regardless of the outcome, it doesn’t change that.”
Perez is a national sales manager for Ace Hardware. He previously served on numerous Oswego-based School District 308 committees that addressed learning and growth.
“We entered the evening cautiously optimistic. We worked hard on behalf of our residents and we heard them – that’s what gave us optimism going into the final vote,” Perez told The Beacon-News Tuesday night.
“I would caution people by saying it’s not really that complicated. When you live in Oswego, we have some of the highest median household incomes in the Midwest and our median home values are super high, so to be able to balance a budget and grow actually shouldn’t be all that complicated. It’s how you manage the growth,” Perez said.
“We’ve got some real challenges coming up in terms of water and making sure we handle the infrastructure challenges for growth. Oswego is going to grow – it’s unavoidable. The biggest challenge for leadership is managing the growth going forward,” he said.
McCarthy-Lange, an office professional at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, said her priorities during the campaign included changing the focus of development in critical areas of the village.
“I am humbled by the support of the community,” McCarthy-Lange said Tuesday night. “We worked hard and talked to a lot of people. We probably knocked on 3,000 doors in the past two months. It was a lot of work but there was a reason we were out there talking to people. We were ready to take Oswego in a new direction, get back in there and work hard for our community.”
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.