Rejected Sugar Grove Library candidate considers recourse
The race for a 6-year term on the Sugar Grove Library board would have been contested if a candidate's petition packet hadn't been disqualified as being incomplete.
Library supporter and library board critic Pat Graceffa turned in a petition packet Dec. 26, seeking the office. When library director Carol Dolin opened the envelope later, after the filing deadline had passed, she discovered it did not contain a “Statement of Candidacy” form.
Board Secretary Bill Durrenberger, on the advice of the library's attorney, deemed the packet incomplete, and did not certify Graceffa as a candidate, Dolin said.
Graceffa said Tuesday she is investigating whether she has any recourse but declined to comment otherwise until deciding what to do.
Graceffa is a supporter of Durrenberger. He was one of two trustees who voted in 2011 against firing longtime library director Beverly Holmes Hughes. Graceffa criticized the board at that time, and participated in protests. She had been active in the Sugar Grove Friends of the Library; that group disbanded after the former library director was fired, in protest over how the library board was conducting business.
Graceffa was the 2006 Sugar Grove Citizen of the Year, and received the Kane County Sheriff's Roscoe Ebey award for community service in 2010. She publishes an email community newsletter.
Durrenberger declined to comment until the next board meeting, which is Jan. 24.
It's the first election for Dolin, as it is her first job in charge of a library, and for Durrenberger as secretary. Dolin and the library's assistant director were authorized to receive the packets.
“We have learned from our mistakes here,” she said Tuesday. “It was really a stunner to open that package and not see the Statement of Candidacy.”
There are two 6-year terms available. Incumbent Robert Bergman and Edward DeBartolo are the candidates.