Former Lake in the Hills trustee tapped to fill board vacancy

The Lake in the Hills village board Thursday night appointed former Trustee Frank Covone to the board, filling the vacancy left by the departure of Trustee Denise Barreto.

Barreto, the town's first black trustee elected in April 2009 and again in April 2013, resigned in July for personal and business reasons and moved to Evanston.

Village President Paul Mulcahy said five people applied to fill the seat until Barreto's term expires in 2017.

"Of those five, he was the best choice," Mulcahy said of Covone, who served eight years on the village planning and zoning commission before being appointed to the board by Mulcahy in May 2013.

Covone, 56, a U.S. Postal Service employee, was defeated in a six-way race for three seats on the board in the spring election. Incumbents Russ Ruzanski and Ray Bogdanowski retained their seats and former trustee Paula Yensen claimed the third seat.

"He actually was the next highest vote-getter, which to me seems logical," Mulcahy said. "He is pretty current on what's going on."

The vote was 4-1 to appoint Covone with trustee Yensen voting against.

Covone could not be reached for comment Friday.