Lane will hold two elected posts

Mettawa resident Roger Lane added a second public office to his resume with his election Tuesday as a village trustee.

Lane was one of four candidates running for three seats on the Mettawa board, but it wasn’t an active race. Although he was on the ballot, veteran Trustee Bill Nicholson essentially withdrew because he is moving out of town.

That left the path clear for the slate of Lane, Tim Towne and Jeff Clark. Lane has served on the Rondout Elementary District 72 school board since 2005 and is in the middle of his most recent term.

“I don’t foresee it being a problem,” Lane said Wednesday.

Neither does state law. While the Illinois Attorney General’s considers the offices of village trustee and school board member incompatible, there is an exemption if the village has a population under 2,500.

Always one of Lake County’s smallest villages since it was incorporated about 50 years ago, Mettawa has 547 residents, according to the 2010 census.

A self-employed commodity trader, Lane has lived in the equestrian-focused village for more than 15 years.

“The current (village) board, I think, has done a great job. I’m not dissatisfied,” he said. “I don’t go downtown to work anymore. I’ve got time.”

Lane said education always has been important to him, as his mother and brother were teachers. And with kids in the one-school district, he said he wanted to be involved.

“Rondout is such a unique school. I thought I could help guide it,” he said.

Lane said he also has a soft spot for the village and when the opportunity arose, wanted to do his part.

But there was a potential problem as both boards meet on the third Tuesday of each month.

Lane said he was willing to resign the school board post to avoid the conflicting meeting times. But fellow school board members agreed to help.

“Nobody had a problem with changing the date,” of the school board meetings, board president Keith Gray said. Starting April 26, Rondout will meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month, he said. Board members aren’t paid, he added.

“The culture has been if you’re running for this position, you’re helping the school,” Gray said.

Rondout is on North Bradley Road in unincorporated Lake County with a Lake Forest mailing address. It serves the part of Mettawa north of Route 60, as well as Green Oaks and Lake Forest.

Village trustee is also a nonpaying position, Lane said.

Considerations for the village board include the possibility of extending Lake Michigan water and controlling traffic, he added.