For Elk Grove Village: Czarnik, Lissner, Petri

For Elk Grove village board

Four candidates are squaring off for three four-year terms on the Elk Grove village board. They are Tim Burns, an Elk Grove library board member making his first run for the village board; Nancy Czarnik, who has served on the board for 21 years; Sam Lissner, a trustee since 1995; and James Petri, with 32 years on the village board. Burns is a thoughtful and engaging candidate whose main issue is giving residents a greater voice in village affairs. It’s a noble idea, but frankly, we think the incumbents have been responsive to their constituents. Further, they’ve done their homework and can speak authoritatively on the key issues in Elk Grove Village. All three have made tough decisions to freeze employee salaries to get village finance under control. Petri, despite more than three decades in office, does not seem to have lost an ounce of energy for the job. He speaks enthusiastically on such unsexy topics as infrastructure. He is endorsed, as are Czarnik and Lissner, for their thoughtful views on keeping the village’s industrial park, which has lost tenants in recent years, viable. We also like their pledge to call for removal of any red-light traffic cameras once they’ve achieved the stated purpose of reducing accidents.