Carpentersville candidates discuss issues

Restoring respect on the village board and repairing the village's tainted image are the dominant issues driving candidates for Carpentersville village board, trustee and village president hopefuls say.

The three mayoral candidates and six of the seven village trustee candidates laid out their plans for the next four years during the Carpentersville-Dundee Area League of Women Voters candidate forum Monday night at village hall.

Many of the candidates said their plans would include bringing "order and respect" to the village board.

"I will bring a different style of leadership to the village board," said Ed Ritter, a current trustee who is running for the village's top post. "There has been zero cooperation and no chance to work together ... the negative attacks have been a way of life for me and the other trustees for the past four years."

Jim Krenz, a mayoral candidate who owns a business in Carpentersville, said the fact that trustees removed the village president's responsibility of setting board meeting agendas depicts the lack of respect on the board.

"Order and respect. We need a village board that knows what that means," Krenz said.

But incumbent village president Bill Sarto questioned his challengers level of respect for the village's laws and rules. Sarto pointed out that both candidates had received notices for violating the village's ordinances.

"If people want to run for the highest office, we should start with people who understand the laws," Sarto said.

The sullied image of the village prompted several candidates for trustee to find a way to make a difference.

"I am concerned with the image that we've had with the current trustees," said Joseph Haimann, who said the village has been embarrassed nationwide. "That is the main reason I decided to run."

The lack of apparent team work on the current village board also motivated incumbents Kay Teeter and Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski and challengers Kenneth Andresen, Bradford McFeggan and Debra Lowen to seek election to one of the three available seats. Trustee candidate Patricia Schultz was absent.

"The board needs members with common sense, the board needs a voice of reason, someone who is open-minded" Ramirez-Sliwinski said.