Bumps in the road turned into mountains for Sarto

Outgoing Carpentersville village president Bill Sarto admits he wasn't confident of retaining his seat for a second term. There were too many bumps in the road and very few stretches of smooth sailing while he held the village's top spot.

In fact, Sarto said, the bumps in the road began on his first day in office and continued to plague his four years at the helm.

"I think the beginning of the end was when I won the election in 2005," Sarto said Wednesday, a day after voters elected current Trustee Ed Ritter to replace him. "The board was already in combat mode right from the beginning, frankly, because I was not favored to win. Insiders were shocked."

At his first village board meeting, Sarto asked Trustee Paul Humpfer - whom he defeated in the village president's race - to step down.

It was an ominous introduction, said Trustee Judy Sigwalt, a Sarto nemesis.

"When he was running for village president he pledged unity on the board," she said. "Then, the first thing he does is asks Paul to step down. I knew then we were in for one rough ride."

The infighting and bickering reached a crisis level in August 2007, when Sigwalt and Humpfer pushed an ordinance banning landlords and business owners from renting to or hiring illegal immigrants. Sarto opposed the measure.

"They were ostracizing a large part of our community," Sarto said. "That's where the division in the village started and I took position that was unpopular with Caucasians in the village. But I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do."

In response, Sarto attempted to remove the two trustees from various village appointments. Each time, five board members refused to support him.

Sarto then tried to oust Humpfer from the village board after the trustee was found guilty of domestic battery for a May 2007 incident in which he hit his wife with a baseball bat. But since Humpfer did not receive a jail sentence, he was not required to step down and Sarto had no authority to remove him.

"He had some good moments, but Bill was in a position that was a little bit over his head," said Trustee Keith Hinz, who worked with Sarto for the second half of his presidency. "He was not very diplomatic about a lot of things and that hurt us."

Others, though, say Sarto could reach out across party lines to secure funding and support for the village, something previous village leaders had failed to do.

"Bill did a phenomenal job of reaching out to our state and federal legislators to get money for the village," said Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, who also was defeated in Tuesday's election. "Ruth Munson secured money to fix Foxview and Hazard roads because Bill reached out. We got casino grant money for our entryway signs. I don't see the village advancing with the new board."

The village also accomplished an aggressive capital improvement program to rebuild the village's ailing roads and aging infrastructure under Sarto's watch, and halted constant turnover in village staff.

"We have had the same village manager for four years and we got some good things going," Sarto said. "Overall we were making some progress."

Though the loss likely spells the end of Sarto's political career, he says he will continue to work with the village and pursue other endeavors.

"Opportunities come along no matter how they are wrapped," he said. "Sometimes they are wrapped in silver paper and sometimes they are wrapped in tissue paper. I don't see this as a downside. I see this as an opportunity to do something different."