New blood takes over in Fox Lake

Fox Lake voters swept a new mayor and three new trustees into office during Tuesday's election.

Ed Bender, the longest serving trustee on the village board, moved up to the top position after beating out incumbent Cindy Irwin and former trustee Alberta Meyer.

With all precincts reporting late Tuesday, unofficial totals showed Bender with 1,324 votes, Irwin with 487 votes, and Meyer with 181 votes.

"I'm feeling ecstatic. I'm thrilled it was a major victory," said the 71-year-old Bender.

The retired vice president with W.W. Grainger Inc., had been a trustee for the previous eight years before running for mayor.

Bender's election won't be the only change on the village board, unofficial vote totals show, as two other incumbents seeking re-election also were ousted.

Newcomers winning trustee seats were: planning board member Val Griseta with 1,063 votes; zoning board member Kevin Burt with 1,112 votes; and Jon Mumford with 902 votes.

They defeated Donnie Schmitt, who had 552 votes, incumbent Carol Ulasy with 571 votes, business owner Donald Otway with 421 votes, incumbent Noel Working with 475 votes and Harry Schippers with 230 votes.

Griseta, Burt and Mumford ran with Bender on the Fox Lake Focused Party, while Schmitt ran with Irwin, Otway and Ulasy on United for Fox Lake. Working and Schippers ran as independents.

In the village clerk election, incumbent Samantha Weeks took home the victory with 1,327 votes to defeat challenger Bernice Konwent with 592 votes.

Konwent is the activities director of Leisure Village, the village's retirement community and the largest voting block in Fox Lake.

The economy and trying to draw businesses to town became the main issue in the race, as Bender continually emphasized his business expertise as a benefit for the village in addressing the economic downturn.

"People are unhappy with the way that things have been going for the past four years," Bender said Tuesday night. "I have a strong group of business people working with me."

Irwin tried to offset the loss of business in Fox Lake by hiring a part-time community development director almost three years ago. However, Bender routinely said that hiring wasn't the answer and more needed to be done to draw business to town.