Elk Grove’s incumbent trustees re-elected

Elk Grove Village voters Tuesday supported the return of three veteran village trustees to another four years in office.

With all 27 precincts reporting, unofficial totals show Trustees Nancy Czarnik finished with 1,564 votes, Samuel Lissner with 1,496, and James Petri with 1,432, running ahead of challenger Timothy Burns with 762.

Petri is the most senior of the incumbents, having served 32 years on the village board, followed by Czarnik with 22 years, and Lissner at 16 years. They have made tough decisions to freeze employee salaries to get village finances under control. They also sought to keep viable the village’s industrial park, which has lost tenants in recent years.

Having the team back for another four years allows them to follow-through on projects, Petri said.

“We have a lot of construction projects going on in Elk Grove, including some Build America Bonds that are paying for work on sewers, streets and water mains,” Petri said. “So I’d like to help be there to work on these.”

Lissner said he’s ready to continue street and sewer improvements and keep a close eye on finances.

“The main thing is to keep services for the businesses and the residents and still keep things like the concerts and the bike race going,” he said.

Burns, an Elk Grove library board trustee with four years remaining on his term, made red-light cameras one of his campaign issues, and questioned whether they were necessary. However, Czarnik, Lissner and Petri said they support red-light cameras because they have changed motorists’ behavior with respect to obeying road rules.

The village deactivated two red-light cameras at the Devon Avenue and Busse Road junction for six months beginning Jan. 1, citing a reduction of crashes at the intersection. Crashes at the intersection dropped from 31 in 2007 to 21 in 2009, and were down to eight by June 2010, according to a recent report released by the village.

Lissner said the village’s red-light camera ordinance became a model for state legislation because the village ordinance requires a police officer to review the recorded violations before tickets are issued.

Daily Herald Staff Writer Madhu Krishnamurthy contributed to this report.