Endorsement: Bulthuis for village president of Villa Park.
The citizens of Villa Park have a choice among three highly qualified candidates for village president in the April 4 election. Two - Albert Bulthuis and Robert Taglia - come to the race with village board experience. The third, Chuck Pickerill, is a local businessman and homebuilder who clearly has kept himself abreast of the issues facing local government.
All three candidates exude a deep affection and commitment to Villa Park. In general, they're all pleased with the direction in which government is moving in the village and with the professional, customer-oriented tone administrators and staff have set. Also in general, they tend to agree that some of the top challenges for village in coming years will involve properly managing significant road- and sewer-improvement projects in a cost-effective manner.
Pickerill correctly observes that his status as an outsider whose business activities have brought him into frequent contact with various village departments "could be an advantage." And if any newcomer could slip easily into the top elected spot in a village's government it is Pickerill. He is personable, knowledgeable, positive, determined and independent.
But those qualities also could define both of the village board members seeking to step up to village president. Robert Taglia is a longtime village resident who has been on the village board since 2009 and is a leader in numerous local youth and professional activities. Bulthuis is a 10-year village trustee who also has experience with the Traffic and Safety and Liquor commissions. With these kinds of inside-government experiences, Bulthuis and Taglia offer a degree of insight that is hard to pass up.
Between the two, we lean toward Bulthuis. "(Villa Park is) on a positive course and we don't want to take our foot of the gas," he told us during an interview. That's a sentiment all three candidates share, but we also sense in Bulthuis a dose of creativity that can be valuable in helping define that "positive course" in coming years. He gets our endorsement