Round Lake voters oust Gentes' slate
The United for Change slate rolled to victory Tuesday in Round Lake, capturing all village offices and turning away the Round Lake United Party.
With 12 of 12 precincts counted, unofficial results showed James Dietz had defeated two-term incumbent Mayor Bill Gentes by 1,137 votes to 603.
"We are absolutely thrilled, Dietz said. "We want to start digging through the files and finding out what the citizens have not been told over the last few years."
Gentes was gracious in defeat and said he was proud of his legacy.
"Congratulations to Mr. Dietz, he ran a good campaign," Gentes said. "I am very pleased with what we have done; we are leaving the village in good financial shape and we have accomplished very much in the time we have had."
In the trustee race, unofficial results indicated UFC incumbent Donald Newby and slate partners Sonia Sandoval and Susan Triphahn had taken all three open seats on the village board.
Newby had 1,065 votes, followed by Sandoval with 937, and Triphahn followed with 920 votes.
Round Lake United incumbent Brian Brubaker followed with 658 votes, Al Villasenor registered 432 votes and Cynthia Pruim Haran had 416 votes.
As for the clerk's race, unofficial results show incumbent Jeanne Kristan was defeated by Joyce Swieton, 1,024 votes to 674. Swieton campaigned with the UFC slate.
Top issues in the mayoral and trustee races included village debt, economic development and the future of new home construction in the village.
Both sides also traded accusations during the lively campaign waged for control of the Round Lake Village Board.
Gentes charged that Dietz represented a return to old-fashioned Round Lake politics and wanted to become mayor so he could take care of his friends, such as the owner of A-Tire County Tire Service. Gentes said Dietz's wife formerly worked at A-Tire.
Dietz acknowledged his wife used to work there, but said he did not have an allegiance to the company and would not steer business to A-Tire.
Gentes denied an accusation made by his opponent that Gentes' wife profited from a village land purchase while she worked for the real-estate agent who handled the transaction.
"We have got some ideas and we are looking forward to getting to work," Dietz said. "There are some very good employees for the village and we are looking forward to working with them."