Four candidates for Lake in the Hills village board

By Elena Ferrarin

eferrarin@dailyherald.com

Three incumbents and one newcomer are vying for three seats on the village board in Lake in the Hills.

Resident Kenneth Tentler, and Trustees Bob Huckins, Denise Barreto, and Steven Harlfinger all filed nominating petitions for the April election. The filing deadline was this week.

Tentler, who owns Tentler Construction in Lake in the Hills, said the board would benefit from some new blood.

“It had been in my thinking for a number of years that I’d like to be a participant in the political process,” said Tentler, who’s lived in the village since 2002.

“I enjoy touching people’s lives for their good,” he said. “I would like to use the skills for the good and continue. I know I have something to offer.”

Harlfinger, the most veteran member of the board, said he considered running for village president in the wake of longtime Village President Ed Plaza’s decision not to seek re-election. However, his work as vice president for a disaster restoration company would have taken too much of his time, he said.

Harlfinger said his priority is to push for more commercial development in Lake in the Hills. “We need to be working on getting more revenues into the village, which is always something we strive for,” he said.

Also, he wants to focus on maintaining positive relationships with surrounding communities and McHenry County officials, including newly elected county board chair Tina Hill, he said.

Barreto, who was elected in 2009, said she doesn’t believe in holding political office for a long time, but there is more she wants to do, she said.

“It wasn’t until pretty much the last 18 months that I got to use my talent for the village. I spent the first 18 months learning, observing, understanding,” she said.

Lake in the Hills needs to embark on strategic planning to develop a vision for the next five or 10 years, said Barreto, who used to work as a marketer for Sears and is now self-employed, mainly as a strategic planner. “Rather than hire somebody to help facilitate that, I can help with that,” she said.

Huckins didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. He was elected to the village board in 2007.