Papantos sworn into Wheeling village board, but how long will she remain?

Mary Papantos was, in her words, "warmly" welcomed to the Wheeling village board this week, showing no signs of concern over a lawsuit seeking to oust her from the hotly contested seat.

Papantos and two incumbent trustees re-elected last month - Ray Lang and Dave Vogel - were sworn in Monday night.

Joe Vito, who fell to Papantos - the official winner of the seat by just 26 votes - also stepped down from the board after his appointed term ended with the election.

Vito last week filed a lawsuit asking a Cook County judge to declare him the winner of the seat awarded to Papantos. The write-in candidate says 34 ballots declared invalid by the Cook County clerk's office should be counted, giving him an 8-vote margin of victory.

Lang said Monday that Vito will be missed and called him a "great asset" to the board. Lang, Vogel and Vito ran on a slate together.

"We have a good, strong board now," Lang added.

Trustees and Village President Dean Argiris each took turns welcoming Papantos, but Trustee Mary Krueger congratulated her in almost poetic fashion, listing Papantos' positive traits. Krueger was previously the only woman out of the six trustees.

"Tenacity, persistence, determination, diligence, dog lover, female, shares same first name as me," Krueger said. "I believe six of those seven qualities will come in rather handy in your new role."

Krueger also urged the board to emulate those qualities.

"Although Mary and I possess two that the rest of you can't touch," Krueger added, drawing laughter from the gathering.