Incumbents Ross, Park and Garner keep Gurnee village board trustee seats

Gurnee's three incumbent trustees will stay on the village board for another four years.

With all 30 precincts counted, unofficial totals show trustees Greg Garner, Steve Park and Cheryl Ross claimed the three available seats in Tuesday's election. Falling short were newcomer Eric Sindermann and Terry Waddell-Moenter, who also ran unsuccessfully in the 2013 village board race.

Ross led with 1,750 tallies, followed by Park's 1,423, Garner's 1,141, Waddell-Moenter's 862 and Sindermann's 593.

Financial incentives as a tool to attract business and the practice of not levying a local property tax were among the issues addressed by the village board candidates.

Garner, who was appointed to the village board by Mayor Kristina Kovarik in 2005 and failed to unseat her four years later, said he supports business incentives with conditions. He stressed a return on investment of public money must be demonstrated before a deal.

Ross, who's been on the village board since 2007, said the tax incentives should be done on a case-by-case basis. She said she prefers a performance-based package, such as what was used to attract AKHAN Semiconductor Inc., because the village will rebate sales tax to the company only if it performs.

Park, a trustee since 2011, said economic development incentives should be used if they are properly created, defined and analyzed. He said the packages should be treated as an investment by the village in companies.