Unopposed candidates still should engage voters

That was easy. Or so Huntley's elected officials will say when their uncontested races wrap up in April.

Village President Chuck Sass is running unopposed, as are Trustees Pam Fender, Paul Mercer and John Piwko.

While I am sure the incumbents will savor the easy victory, this cannot be good for Huntley.

What happened to the political engagement of Del Webb's Sun City, which helped elect three village board members and outspoken school board members?

Have the young homeowners associations throughout new Huntley not absorbed the same civic spirit that seemed so robust in Sun City?

Of course, it is possible residents are just satisfied with the consensus politics by which the current village board and village president have governed Huntley.

The last issue I can recall that split the board and generated any measure of public engagement was the debate over whether Huntley should mandate fire sprinklers in homes.

That was more than a year ago.

Whether or not the current elected officials are doing a good job, Huntley residents deserve a choice, especially when the board is poised to make tough decisions on how declining village revenues will be spent and which people or programs will feel the pinch.

But what's done is done, so I encourage Huntley's incumbents to use the run-up to the April election to engage voters and each other on the issues - to show they care, to show they are qualified and to start shaping the policies and vision that will guide the village through rocky economic straits.

Meanwhile, in District 158:

Any complacency or apathy regarding the village government has not apparently transferred to the school district.

Unlike the village board, the school board has a contested race, with seven candidates clamoring for one of the five open seats.

The school district has been in recent years a more fertile ground for factionalism and controversy.

The district's staff and residents recently endured the trauma of the teacher's strike, while the district has started to weigh its options for Huntley High School - and the possibility it may have to ask voters for money to expand the building or build a new one.

In fact, in a faint echo of the recent presidential contest, the past and the future are emerging as a theme in this year's school board race.

Candidates like board President Shawn Green and Kim Skaja have said they will focus on the future of the district instead of dwelling on the past - a barely veiled reference to rivals Larry Snow and Aileen Seedorf.

We have heard this mantra before, as well as its tired flipside, that candidates like Green and Skaja represent an old, not-so-kosher way of doing business.

Don't believe the hype. Instead of making this year a rerun of previous election cycles, send a message to all factions that you are sick of the bitterness and recriminations of the past four years.

Don't vote for "change."

Vote for change.