Plan commission chairman named to Winflied board

Cliff Mortenson, a firefighter and chairman of the Winfield plan commission, will become the village's newest village trustee.

The Winfield village board voted unanimously Thursday to appoint Mortenson to its vacant trustee seat.

Mortenson will take over the position held by Dennis Keeler, who resigned in July because of an undisclosed medical condition. The position has remained vacant until this past week.

"Cliff's track record speaks for itself," said Trustee Glen Vade Bon Coeur, who served with Mortenson on the plan commission before being elected to the village board in April. "He does his homework. He looks at all sides of an issue. He's fair-minded."

Mortenson will hold the position until April 2009. He will then have to run for re-election for a 2-year term, Village President Rudy Czech said.

Mortenson said he was excited about the opportunity to serve the village and hoped to do anything he could to contribute.

"I'm not going into the position with any preconceived notions of wanting to change anything," Mortenson said. "This is a whole different position for me, and I just want to get my feet wet."

Mortenson, a retired lieutenant of the Winfield Fire Protection District and firefighter in nearby Wheaton, has served on the village's plan commission for roughly 10 years, most recently as the advisory panel's chairman.

He was the only member of the plan commission to keep his seat in 2005, when Czech and a slate of trustees wrested control of the village board in a hotly contested race that featured two opposing political groups and nine total candidates.

Mortenson is expected to be sworn in Oct. 24.