Barrington mayor candidates have very different takes on state of the village

Barrington Village President Karen Darch and frequent electoral challenger Mike Kozel see their village going in two different directions.

Kozel believes Barrington is not thriving like it used to, but Darch said the village is better off today than it has been in years.

"I remember Barrington in the '80s when we had a pattern of growth moving forward," said Kozel, who has been a resident for 35 years. "I feel like we've kind of stagnated. There are properties in town that were put on the market and there are few buyers."

Kozel owns Carpenter On Call, a business he operates out of his home on Barrington's east side. He said he has spoken to other small-business owners who feel the village makes it more difficult for them to exist.

Darch, who is seeking her fourth term as village president, disputed nearly every one of Kozel's complaints about the village during an hourlong meeting with the Daily Herald editorial board Friday.

While there may be isolated cases, there are not bad feelings toward the village within the local business community, she said. The village has a 93.7 percent retail occupancy rate, better than Palatine's 86 percent rate and slightly above Arlington Heights' 93 percent rate, she added.

Village stores are performing well, she said, noting that she expects a 5 percent increase in sales tax revenue from 2015 to 2016.

"We will hopefully hit our highest sales tax number in years," Darch said.

Kozel tried to challenge Darch for the village president's seat in 2013 but was knocked off the ballot and ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign. In 2015, he ran for a village trustee position but came up 130 votes short.

Darch said last month that if she wins the April 4 election, her fourth term will be her last. She is running with four village trustee candidates as part of a slate called "Committee for a Thriving Barrington."

The trustee candidates are incumbent Todd Sholeen and newcomers Jeff J. Janssen, Jennifer Wondrasek and Ryan Julian. The trustee slate is running unopposed.

Kozel said if he wins he would be a more frequent presence in the town than Darch and would like to be referred to as the "mayor."

"Being the mayor is about being the servant of the town," Kozel said. "You have to devote the time to be out there and find out the pulse and the culture."