Fox Lake trustee hopefuls share ideas

The candidates vying for Fox Lake village board spots have very different ideas on what could be done to better the community in the near future.

Incumbents Nancy Koske and Greg Murrey are facing off against Fox Lake zoning board member Robert Ebbert and Fox Lake planning board member Donny Schmit for three, 4-year seats in the April 5 election.

Current trustee Jack Keisgen has decided to not see re-election.

The ideas were included in candidate responses to a Daily Herald questionnaire.

Ebbert, 71, a former board director at Leisure Village, said the village board should continue pushing in the future to make the village’s emergency dispatch center more economically viable.

“I would like to see our 9-1-1 system become more profitable by adding other villages to the system,” he said.

Schmit, 57, who lists himself as the co-owner of a construction company, focused on parks and recreation in saying a municipal pier at Lakefront Park on Nippersink Drive in downtown Fox Lake would be a wonderful amenity to pursue.

“A municipal pier by Lakefront Park can provide revenue to the village without a major expenditure of funds,” he said. “The mayor and I both agree that this should be a priority in the future.”

Koske, 59, a marketing director who has served as trustee since 2007 after serving as mayor from 2001 through 2005, said bringing a hotel to Fox Lake is the most important aspect for the village right now.

“Our community leaders have been trying to get a hotel into town for years,” she said. “And, although it’s not a new idea, it’s one that I continue to support. A hotel in Fox Lake is the key to further appropriate economic development in our town.”

Murrey, 54, a trustee on the village board since 1999, said he will continue to support great ideas brought to the board if they fit into the village’s economic climate.

“I have worked with the last four administrations to work toward making Fox Lake a greater community to live in,” he said.